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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 6, 2025) – The U.S. Women’s National Team won the first two sets before falling short in a thrilling five-setter to Czechia, 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 27-25) on Friday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The U.S. (0-3) will have an off day before facing Korea at 1 p.m. PDT on Sunday, June 8, to finish week one of Volleyball Nations League.
Get Tickets to Women’s VNL in Arlington, Texas, July 9-13
The U.S. block dominated the first two sets and finished with a 13-6 advantage for the match. Czechia, which won its first VNL match in its history and defeated the U.S. for the first time ever, led in kills (82-66) and aces (7-2).
Outside hitter Sarah Franklin led five double-figure scorers for the U.S. with 20 points on 19 kills and a block, while middle blocker Amber Igiede totaled 18 points on 13 kills, four blocks, and an ace. Franklin also led the squad with nine successful receptions and added 10 digs,
Middle Molly McCage led all players with five blocks and registered six kills for 11 points. Outside Logan Eggleston also scored 11 points (seven kills, three blocks and an ace). Opposites Logan Lednicky and Olivia Babcock recorded 10 and nine kills, respectively.
Libero Morgan Hentz paced the U.S. with 13 digs and contributed seven successful receptions. Eggleston finished with 11 digs and seven successful receptions. Setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres tallied nine digs and two kills.
The U.S. finished on a 6-2 run to win its first set of the 2025 VNL in the opening set. Franklin and Lednicky each scored four points on kills.
Trailing 15-14 in the second set, the U.S. scored five consecutive points to take control. McCage scored on a slide and her back-to-back blocks made it 20-16. McCage led the team in the set with five points on two kills and three blocks. Igiede, Lednicky and Eggleston each scored four points.
Czechia stayed in the match by passing at a 75 percent success rate in the third set. Igiede scored four points with Franklin adding three.
The U.S. trailed most of the fourth set, drawing within one point at 11-10 and six more times after that, but could not draw even. A kill by Franklin made it 19-18 but Czechia sent the match to a fifth set with a 6-2 run. Babcock produced a team-high six kills in the fourth set.
Two Eggleston kills put the U.S. in front 7-3 in the deciding set and an Igiede kill later in the set made it 11-8. Czechia scored the next four points and had match points at 14-12 and 14-13.
A Franklin kill off a set from Hentz gave the U.S. its first match point at 15-14. Two kills by Igiede and three by Franklin help set up five more U.S. match points, including a Franklin kill that gave the U.S. its 10th match point at 25-24. Czechia scored the final three points, finally securing the victory on its fourth match point. Franklin (six) and Igiede (five) combined for 11 of their team’s 18 kills in the fifth set.
“We got back into that same rut where we lost some consistency early on in the third and put ourselves in a pretty big hole,” head coach Erik Sullivan told VBTV. “Again, I’m proud of the way our team fought through the whole match, but it’s a hard one to swallow. We’ve got some grit and some fight to us, but we’ve just got to figure out the consistency. We can’t have these big lulls in our execution.”
Monica Brancuska of Czechia led all players with 22 kills and 23 points, while Michaela Mlejnkova recorded seven of her 21 kills in the final set.
U.S. Women’s Week One Roster for 2025 VNL
No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
9 Madisen Skinner (OH, 6-2, Katy, Texas, Univ. of Kentucky and Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
13 Amber Igiede (MB, 6-3, Baton Rouge, La., Univ. of Hawaii, Bayou)
14 Anna Dodson (MB, 6-5, Fort Collins, Colo., UCLA, Rocky Mountain)
17 Zoe Jarvis (previously Fleck) (L, 5-6, Granada Hills, Calif., UCLA and Univ. of Texas, Southern California)
21 Roni Jones-Perry (OH, 6-0, West Jordan, Utah, BYU, Intermountain)
22 Sarah Franklin (OH, 6-4, Lake Worth, Fla., Univ. of Wisconsin, Florida)
24 Olivia Babcock (Opp, 6-4, Los Angeles, Calif., Pitt, Southern California)
27 Ella Powell (S, 6-0, Fayetteville, Ark., Univ. of Washington, Delta)
28 Logan Lednicky (Opp, 6-3, Sugar Land, Texas, Univ. of Texas A&M, Lone Star)
29 Molly McCage (MB, 6-3, Spring, Texas, Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
32 Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres (S, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Texas, Aloha)
33 Logan Eggleston (OH, 6-2, Brentwood, Tenn., Univ. of Texas, Southern)
43 Serena Gray (MB, 6-2, Temple City, Calif., Pitt, Southern California)
Head Coach: Erik Sullivan
Assistant Coach: Mike Wall
Second Assistant Coach: Brandon Taliaferro
Second Assistant Coach: Tayyiba Haneef-Park
Second Assistant Coach: Joe Trinsey
Team Manager: Rob Browning
Team Doctors: William Briner, James Suchy, Chris Lee, Andrew Gregory
Physiotherapist: Kara Kessans
Physical Trainers: Shawn Hueglin, Shannon Boone
Mental Performance Coach: Andrea Becker, Katy Stanfill
Performance Analyst: Virginia Pham
Week 1 Schedule: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VBTV. CBS Sport Network and the Big Ten Network will also air matches.
All times PDT
June 4 Italy def. USA, 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 30-28)
June 5 Brazil def. USA, 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-19)
June 6 Czechia def. USA, 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 27-25)
June 8 at 1 p.m. vs. Korea