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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 21, 2026) – The U.S. Women’s National Team went undefeated during the second week of Volleyball Nations League (VNL) and improved to 7-1 overall with a 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-16, 25-19) victory over Serbia on Sunday in Pasig City, Philippines. The U.S. is currently ranked fifth in the world with Serbia ranked ninth. The four-setter marked the first time in the past four VNL matches between the teams that did not go five sets.
The U.S. will travel to Osaka, Japan and begin VNL Week Three on World Volleyball Day, July 7th at 11:30 p.m. PT against Thailand.
The U.S. finished the match with advantages in kills (62-55) and blocks (11-8), while serving one fewer ace (5-4).
“Obviously we are out here trying to win matches, so the results feel good. I’m more excited about the growth and progress we showed this week. We got to play a lot of different players against really high-level competition, so I feel like we are going in the right direction,” U.S. head coach Erik Sullivan said. “I think there is some system stuff we can still clean up. Some of it is get back and recover a little bit. These road trips can be a little daunting. We’ll take a couple days off and get back in the gym.”
Outside hitter Avery Skinner shared match-high honors with 16 kills and 18 points, adding a block and ace. Outside Logan Eggleston also recorded 16 kills and totaled 17 points with a block. She led the team with nine successful receptions and hit double-digits in digs with 10. “I just think about finding space. Obviously there are really great blockers in this tournament, so it’s about going up and seeing space and just trying to find the floor. (Setter Jordyn) Poulter does a really a good job of mixing up our offense and so our middles are giving us really good seams,” commented Eggleston, who hit at a .429 clip for the match.
Poulter ran the effective offense that hit .392 for the match, totaled eight digs, and kept the team on the court for a conversation after a challenging second set. “She told us, and we talked about it as a team, that we let a lot of plays go in the second set. There was a lot we could have controlled and we didn’t, so she talked about slowing it down and focusing on what we can control. I think we came out in the third and fourth and did exactly that,” Eggleston stated.
Libero Morgan Hentz led the team with 11 digs with fellow libero Lexi Rodriguez finished with five successful receptions and four digs. Opposite Jordan Thompson scored 14 points on 10 kills, two blocks and two aces. Middle blocker Asjia O’Neal gave the U.S. four double-digit scorers with 10 points on eight kills, a block and an ace.
Opposite Stephanie Samedy, who entered the match as part of a double switch with setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres, continued her torrid hitting with eight kills and just one error in 10 attacks for a .700 hitting percentage. Middle Dana Rettke led the team with three blocks, combining those with four kills for seven points, and middle Chiaka Ogbogu added a pair of blocks.
Serbia called a very quick timeout in the first set, trailing 3-1 after an Ogbogu block. An ace gave Serbia an 8-6 lead. Eggleston scored on a great set from Rodriguez to pull the U.S. within a point, 14-13. A block and a kill off the block gave Serbia a 19-15 advantage. A service error followed by kills from Eggleston and Thompson cut the deficit to a point. A great dig by Skinner led to a set from Ogbogu and kill from Eggleston that evened the set at 20. Thompson served short for an ace and two more tough serves led to a kill from Eggleston and a Poulter block on an out-of-system attack for a 24-21 U.S. lead. Serbia took the next point despite three consecutive great digs from Hentz. Eggleston ended the set with her eighth kill on a bump set from Poulter. The U.S. ended the set on a 10-3 run.
Serbia took a 7-4 lead in the second set. The U.S. tied the set 10-10 but Serbia regained its three-point lead by scoring three consecutive points. A block raised the margin to four points, 18-14, and led to a U.S. timeout. Serbia followed with a pair of aces to make it 20-14 and went on to tie the match, handing the U.S. its first set loss of the week. Skinner and Eggleston each scored three points in the set.
A tough Poulter serve led to a Rettke kill that staked the U.S. to a 3-0 lead to start the third set. A good up from Rodriguez led to a Skinner kill on a pipe attack for a 5-2 lead. O’Neal scored back-to-back points on a slide and a kill on an overpass for an 8-4 advantage. A Skinner serve compromised the pass and the play ended with a Rettke block for a five-point lead, 12-7. A Serbia timeout could slow down the U.S. as an Eggleston kill doubled the score, 14-7. A Serbia block cut the deficit to four points, 17-13, but an O’Neal block on the next play increased the margin back to five. Rodrgiuez set Samedy, who tooled the block, for a 20-15 lead. A Thompson block and Skinner kill helped bring the U.S. to set point, 24-16, and Skinner served an ace to put the U.S. up two sets to one. The U.S. recorded six blocks in the set. Skinner scored seven points on five kills, a block and the ace on the final play.
A Skinner kill capped a 4-0 U.S. run after dropping the first two points of the fourth set. Thompson put a ball down the line for an 8-6 lead. Neither team scored two points in a row again until Samedy and Skinner delivered back-to-back kills for a 14-11 U.S. lead. A block by Thompson extended the lead to five points, 18-13. An O’Neal kill on a slide gave the U.S. a 20-15 lead and prompted the final Serbian timeout. Thompson followed with an ace and her next serve caused an overpass that Eggleston put away to raise the margin to seven. Another O’Neal score on a slide set up match point. Serbia staved off two match points before Skinner put a ball down for the four-set victory. Thompson paced the team with seven points on five kills, one block and one ace.
No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Micha Hancock (S, 5-11, Edmond, Okla., Penn State, Oklahoma)
2 Jordyn Poulter (S, 6-2, Aurora, Colo., Univ. of Illinois, Rocky Mountain)
3 Avery Skinner (OH, 6-1, Katy, Texas, Univ. of Kentucky, Lone Star)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford, Pioneer)
7 Asjia O’Neal (MB, 6-3, Southlake, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
8 Lexi Rodriguez (L, 5-5, Sterling, Ill., Univ. of Nebraska Great Lakes)
10 Simone Lee-Wank (OH, 6-1, Menomonee Falls, Wisc., Penn State, Badger)
11 Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres (S, 6-0 Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Texas, Aloha)
12 Jordan Thompson (OPP, 6-4, Edina, Minn., Univ. of Cincinnati, North Country)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
24 Chiaka Ogbogu (MB, 6-4, Coppell, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
27 Madi Kubik-Banks (OH, 6-4, West Des Moines, Iowa, Univ. of Nebraska, Iowa)
29 Molly McCage (MB, 6-3, Spring, Texas, Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
33 Logan Eggleston (OH, 6-1, Brentwood, Tenn., Univ. of Texas, Southern)
34 Stephanie Samedy (OPP, 6-2, Clermont, Fla., Univ. of Minnesota, Florida)
Head Coach: Erik Sullivan
Assistant Coach: Tayyiba Haneef-Park
Assistant Coach: Brandon Taliaferro
Assistant Coach: Rob Browning
Statistician: Virginia Pham
Physiotherapist: Kara Kessans
Physical Trainers: Shannon Boone, Shawn Hueglin
Mental Performance Coach: Nicole Davis
Team Doctors: Lori Boyajian-O’Neill, James Suchy, Chris Koutures, Mark Hutchinson
Team Manager: Shannon Slatter
U.S. Women’s Schedule for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League
Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VBTV.
(All times PDT)
Week 1: Quebec City, Quebec
June 3 USA def. Ukraine, 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-23)
June 4 Canada def. USA, 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 30-28)
June 5 USA def. France, 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 27-25, 23-25, 15-11)
June 7 USA def. Germany, 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-12)
Week 2: Philippines
June 16 USA def. Dominican Republic, 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-12)
June 18 USA def. Czechia, 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-16)
June 20 USA def. Italy, 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-16)
June 20 USA def. Serbia, 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-16, 25-19)
Week 3: Osaka, Japan
July 7 at 11:30 p.m. vs. Thailand
July 8 at 9 p.m. vs. Poland
July 9 at 9 p.m. vs. Türkiye
July 11 at 8 p.m. vs. Brazil
The U.S. Women's National Team won its fifth consecutive Volleyball Nations League (VNL) match with an impressive 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-16) sweep of Italy in a rematch of the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal match on Saturday in Pasig City, Philippines.
The U.S. Women's National Team moved to 5-1 at the 2026 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-16) win over Czechia on Thursday in Pasig City, Philippines. It was the second meeting between the teams in the VNL after Czechia, making its debut in the tournament, defeated the U.S. in an epic reverse sweep (27-25 in the fifth set) in 2025.
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The U.S. Women’s National Team opened play at the 2026 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-23) win over Ukraine on Wednesday before a boisterous crowd that included 3,500 school children in Quebec City, Quebec. It was the first VNL match ever for Ukraine.
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