U.S. Women Drop Five-Setter to Top-Ranked Türkiye

ARLINGTON, Texas (June 2, 2024) – The U.S. Women’s National Team gave itself chances to win, but in the end it suffered a five-set loss (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 12-25, 15-12) to the world’s top-ranked team Türkiye in a Volleyball Nations League preliminary match on Sunday at College Park Center.

The U.S. Women (4-4) split their first eight matches in VNL action and is in eighth place. Eight teams, including host Thailand, will advance to the Final Round. The U.S. will return to play on June 10 at 11:30 p.m. PT against France (1-7) to begin the third and final week of preliminary play in Fukuoka, Japan. Türkiye (6-2) finished the first two rounds in fifth place.

MATCH STATISTICS (PDF)

Seven players scored at least five points for the U.S., whose depth was the key in a dominating fourth set and taking the lead late in the fifth. Opposite Jordan Thompson recorded team-highs of 13 kills and 16 points, while recording three blocks and seven digs. Jordan Larson finished with 14 points on the outside with 12 kills and two service aces, shared match-high honors with seven successful receptions, and added nine digs.

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Libero Justine Wong-Orantes finished with a team-high 14 digs and setter Jordyn Poulter added 11.

“We run really deep. We have people who can come off the bench and change games for us,” Poulter said. “This entire VNL, we are looking to get better, and I think tonight we got better. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but we got better. We are going to use the next five days before we leave for Japan to see how much better we can get in our gym.”

Middle blocker Dana Rettke was the other U.S. player who scored in double digits with 13 points on 10 kills and three blocks. Outside Kathryn Plummer totaled eight points and middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu led all players with five blocks, adding a pair of kills.

In a remarkably close match, both on the court and statistically, the teams tied with 61 kills. The U.S. held a 14-11 advantage in blocks, while Türkiye had one more ace (4-3). The U.S. scored on 25 of Türkiye’s errors and committed 22.

“Our team battled incredible fiercely,” U.S. Head Coach Karch Kiraly said. “That was a real positive to take from this. Even when it was rough, we figured out how to push and get to a generally better spot until right at the end of the match.”

Melissa Vargas of Türkiye showed why she is one of the best players in the world with 27 points on 23 kills, two blocks, and two aces. She also totaled double digits in digs with 10.

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Türkiye took a 7-4 lead to start the match, but the U.S. scored six of the next seven points to move ahead 10-8. The lead grew to five, 18-13, on a Rettke block, but a rotation error turned the momentum back to Türkiye, who scored four consecutive points.

With the score 19-18, Khalia Lanier came in and posted a huge kill to stop the run. Thompson scored twice with Hanock adding a kill and Larson an ace to give the U.S. the opening set.

Vargas was nearly unstoppable in the second set that Türkiye controlled from the start. She scored nine points on eight kills and one block in addition to making tremendous defensive plays, including one where she went over the barrier to play a ball. The lead was as large as seven points, 20-13.

Larson and Plummer each scored four points for the U.S. in the second set.

“We didn’t execute nearly as well in the second set. There were some basic plays we struggled with. We flubbed an easy block deflection and some other things where we didn’t take care of business. That’s a really good team and we have got to be clean,” Kiraly told Volleyball World after the second set.

The third set was nearly a repeat of the previous set with Türkiye taking a 15-10 lead, but the U.S. responded with a 5-0 run on Ali Frantti’s serve, tying the set on a Rettke block and Avery Skinner kill. However, a block and ace helped Türkiye take a four-point lead, 19-15. The set never got closer than three points the rest of the way.

Thompson led the U.S. with four points in the third set. Larson and Rettke added three points apiece.

The U.S. stormed out to a 7-3 lead with a Rettke kill forcing an early timeout by Türkiye. Haleigh Washington, playing in her first set of the match, led all players with five points on three kills and two blocks during an 11-3 run that gave the U.S. an 18-6 lead. The run included three great digs, including a pancake by Poulter on the same play, a Larson kill when she passed a serve over the net, and multiple big plays on the same point by Wong-Orantes.

“I love that we’re fighting and pushing people and we’re not even the best we’re going to be yet,” Washington said. “Whatever my role needs to be, whether it’s as a game changer or a starter, I’m just here to bring the energy.”

With the deciding set tied at six, the U.S. scored three consecutive points on a Rettke kill and back-to-back kills from Ali Frantti, the second coming when her free ball landed in between defenders. A Thompson kill gave the U.S. an 11-9 lead, but Türkiye finished the match on a 6-1 run with Vargas scoring her 27th point on the match clincher.

Frantti recorded four kills in the fifth set with Thompson scoring twice with a kill and a block.

Volleyball Nations League is the world’s premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round.

U.S. Women’s Roster for 2024 VNL Week 2
No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)

1 Micha Hancock (S, 5-11, Edmond, Okla., Penn State Univ., 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 and Baylor, Lone Star)
4 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)
10 Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Univ. of Nebraska, Great Plains)
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)
18 Asjia O’Neal (MB, 6-3, Southlake, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
22 Kathryn Plummer (OH, 6-6, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
24 Chiaka Ogbogu (MB, 6-2, Coppell, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
29 Khalia Lanier (OH, 6-2, Scottsdale, Ariz., Univ. of Southern California, Arizona)

Head Coach: Karch Kiraly
Assistant Coach: Tama Miyashiro
Second Assistant Coaches: Marv Dunphy, Alfee Reft, Erin Virtue
Performance Analyst: Rianne Verhoek
Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer: Kara Kessans
Team Doctor: Lori Boyajian-O’Neill
Consultant Coaches: Sue Enquist, Katy Stanfill
Team Manager: Coley Pawlikowski
General Managers: Peter Vint

U.S. Women’s Schedule for the 2024 Volleyball Nations League
Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VolleyballWorld.tv
(All times PDT)

Week 1 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 15 USA def Thailand 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-12, 25-18)
May 16 China def USA 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19)
May 17 Brazil def USA 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-19)
May 19 USA def Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18)

Week 2 in Arlington, Texas
May 28 USA def Canada 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20)
May 31 USA def Bulgaria 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-22)
June 1 Poland def. USA 3-1 (28-26, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23)
June 2 Türkiye def. USA 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 12-25, 15-12)

Week 3 in Fukuoka, Japan
June 10 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs France
June 12 at 8 p.m. USA vs Netherlands
June 14 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs Italy
June 16 at 2:45 a.m. USA vs Japan

Final Round: June 20-23 in Bangkok, Thailand.