Road to Paris Begins Saturday for U.S. Women

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 13, 2023) – Fourteen players on the U.S. Women’s National Team are in Łódź, Poland for the Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier, the first opportunity for the team to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

At the qualifier, which runs Sept. 16-24, eight teams will each play seven matches over nine days. The U.S. Women will play matches against Colombia, Thailand, Slovenia, Korea, Italy, Poland and Germany. The top two teams will qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.

There are two other eight-team qualifiers going on at the same time in Japan and China. At the end of the three qualifiers, six teams for the Olympics will be determined, plus the host country France.

The other five teams will be determined based on world rankings in June 2024.

Tokyo Olympic MVP outside hitter Jordan Larson is one of seven gold medalists on the U.S. roster: Libero and Tean Captain Justin Wong-Orantes, outside hitter Kelsey (Robinson) Cook, opposites Annie Drews and Jordan Thompson and middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington.

They will be joined by Lauren Carlini and Ashley Evans at setter, Morgan Hentz at libero, Ali Frantti, Kathryn Plummer and Avery Skinner at outside hitter, and Dana Rettke at middle blocker.

The team is led by Head Coach Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympian and three-time gold medalist as a player who took over as head coach of the U.S. Women in 2013.

Kiraly’s first assistant is Tama Miyashiro, who won a silver medal as a libero with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. The second assistants will be Alfee Reft, Erin Virtue and Marv Dunphy, who coached the U.S. Men to the Olympic gold medal in 1988.

All five coaches helped the team win the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The U.S. Women are ranked No. 2 in the world and are the defending Olympic champions. The U.S. Women have competed in 12 Olympic Games, including the last 10. They have won one gold medal, three silver and two bronze.

Matches will be shown on VolleyballWorld.tv.

U.S. Women’s Roster for 2023 Road to Paris Olympic Qualifier

No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
4C Justine Wong-Orantes (L, 5-6, Cypress, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
5 Ali Frantti (OH, 6-1, Spring Grove, Ill., Penn State, Great Lakes)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
7 Lauren Carlini (S, 6-2, Aurora, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
10 Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Univ. of Nebraska, Great Plains)
11 Annie Drews (Opp, 6-4, Elkhart, Ind., Purdue Univ., Hoosier)
12 Jordan Thompson (Opp, 6-4, Edina, Minn., Univ. of Cincinnati, North Country)
15 Haleigh Washington (MB, 6-3, Colorado Springs, Colo., Penn State Univ., Rocky Mountain)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
22 Kathryn Plummer (OH, 6-6, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
23 Kelsey (Robinson) Cook (OH, 6-2, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
24 Chiaka Ogbogu (MB, 6-2, Coppell, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
27 Avery Skinner (OH, 6-1, Katy, Texas, Baylor, Lone Star)
28 Ashley Evans (S, 6-1, Liberty Township, Ohio, Purdue, Ohio Valley)

Head Coach: Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coach: Tama Miyashiro
Second Assistant Coaches: Alfee Reft, Erin Virtue, Marv Dunphy
Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer: Kara Kessans
Performance Analyst: Rianne Verhoek
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Brandon Siakel
Team Manager: Coley Pawlikowski
Team Doctor: Mark Hutchinson
Athletic Trainer: Jackie Chan
Nutritionist: Shawn Hueglin
Massage Therapist: Luis Hernandez
Mental Performance Coach: Sue Enquist
Performance Analyst: Matthieu Van Der Broeke

U.S. Schedule for the Road to Paris Olympic Qualifier
(all times PT)
Sept. 16 at 2:30 a.m. USA vs Colombia (world No. 20)
Sept. 17 at 5:30 a.m. USA vs Thailand (world No. 14)
Sept. 19 at 11:30 a.m. USA vs Slovenia (world No. 25)
Sept. 20 at 5:30 a.m. USA vs Korea (world No. 36)
Sept. 22 at 11:45 a.m. USA vs Italy (world No. 5)
Sept. 23 at 8:30 a.m. USA vs Poland (world No. 7)
Sept. 24 at 8:30 a.m. USA vs Germany (world No. 12)