COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 21, 2022) – Southern California volleyball fans will get their chance to see the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s National Team compete live in August when it takes on No. 4 Türkiye in the USA Volleyball Cup.
The teams will play three exhibition matches on Aug. 27 and 28 at the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State and Aug. 30 at LionTree Arena (formerly the RIMAC Arena) at UC San Diego.
The U.S. Women’s National Team is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the defending Olympic gold medalist. Türkiye is ranked No. 4 in the world and recently finished fourth at the Volleyball Nations League, the biggest annual international women’s tournament.
Among the players expected to compete for the U.S. Women are Olympic gold medalists Annie Drews, Micha Hancock, Chiaka Ogbogu, Jordyn Poulter, Kelsey Robinson, Jordan Thompson, Haleigh Washington and Justine Wong-Orantes.
U.S. Women’s Head Coach Karch Kiraly is expecting the matches to be competitive and fun for both teams.
“Türkiye is one of the best teams in the world,” Kiraly said. “They gave us all we could handle and more in our pool play match at the Olympics. We barely got out with a win.
“They have made massive improvement over the last few years. They have really taken their country by storm. Women’s volleyball gets so much attention because they have gotten so much better.
“Every time we play them, they challenge us and make us better. I hope we do the same for them.”
Both teams will be using the friendly matches to prepare for the 2022 FIVB World Championship on Sept. 23-Oct. 15 in Netherlands.
Buy your tickets now at usavolleyball.org.