COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 8, 2021) – USA Volleyball has selected the 12 athletes who will represent the United States at 2021 FIVB Women’s Under-20 World Championship on July 9-17. The tournament is being held in both Rotterdam, Netherlands and Kortrijk, Belgium.
The U.S. Women’s U20 Team will open pool play on Friday at 9:30 a.m. PT against Russia in Rotterdam. Matches will be live streamed on the VolleyballWorld YouTube channel.
Seven players on the U.S. U20 National Team return from the 2019 Girls U18 National Team that won the gold medal at the FIVB World Championship: Setter Kami Miner, who is the team’s captain, libero Lexi Rodriguez, outside hitters Elena Oglivie, Allison Jacobs, Emily Londot and Lindsay Krause and middle blocker Caroline Crawford.
The five new players to the team are outside hitters Ally Batenhorst and Jordan Middleton, setter Averi Carlson and middle blockers Reagan Hope and Gabrielle Essix.
The team’s head coach is Dan Fisher, women’s head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. His assistants are Jonathan Newman-Gonchar, women’s head coach at the University of New Mexico, and Jessica Aschenbrenner, assistant coach at the University of Denver. Jon Wong, an assistant at Texas Tech, will serve as statistician.
The 20-person U20 Training Team practiced at UNLV from June 28-July 8 before the team was cut to 12 and headed for Europe.
Round-robin pool play will unfold over the first three days of competition through July 11. The United States’ pool includes Turkey, Russia and Thailand.
The pool winners and the pool runners-up will continue in two new pools to be played in Rotterdam, while the remaining eight teams form two pools in Kortrijk. The matches in the four second-round groups will take place on July 13-15. The pool standings will determine in which semifinals the teams will compete.
The grand final will take place July 18 at the Topsportcentrum. On the same day, the bronze medal match and all the other classification matches will be played in Rotterdam and Kortrijk to determine the final standings.
It will be the 21st edition of the U20 World Championship and the first co-hosted by two countries. The previous 20 editions were held from 1977 through 2019.
Late Wednesday, it was announced that Puerto Rico had withdrawn from the competition.
U.S. Women’s U20 National Team
Player (Position, Height, HS Grad Year, Hometown, Club, Region, Committed College)
1 Lexi Rodriguez (L, 5-7, 2021, Sterling, Ill., Club Fusion VBC, Great Lakes, Nebraska)
3 Elena Oglivie (OH, 5-9, 2020, Kapolei, Hawaii, Kuikahi VBC, Aloha, Stanford)
5 Allison Jacobs (OH, 5-11, 2020, Stevenson Ranch, Calif., Legacy VBC, Southern Cal, UCLA)
6C Kami Miner (S, 6-0, 2021, Redondo Beach, Calif., Mizuno Long Beach VBC, Southern Cal, Stanford)
7 Averi Carlson (S, 6-0, 2022, Lucas, Texas, Skyline Juniors Dallas, North Texas Region, Baylor)
10 Reagan Hope (MB, 6-2, 2021, Phoenix, Ariz., Arizona Storm Elite, Arizona Region, Oregon)
11 Jordan Middleton (OH, 6-2, 2022, Gilbert, Ariz., Arizona Storm Elite, Arizona, Southern California)
12 Caroline Crawford (MB, 6-2, 2020, Lansing, Kan., MAVS KC, Heart of America, Kansas)
14 Emily Londot (OH, 6-2, 2020, Utica, Ohio, Mintonette Sports, Ohio Valley, Ohio State)
16 Gabrielle Essix (MB, 6-4, 2021, Hoover, Ala., Southern Performance, Southern, Florida)
17 Lindsay Krause (OH, 6-4, 2021, Papillion, Neb., Premier Nebraska, Great Plains, Nebraska)
19 Ally Batenhorst (OH, 6-4, 2021, Katy, Texas, Houston Juniors, Lone Star, Nebraska)
U20 Training Team Alternates
Carter Booth (M, 6-7, 2022, Englewood, Colo., Colorado Juniors, Rocky Mountain, Minnesota)
Anna Kate Herrington (M, 6-0, 2022, Orlando, Fla., OTVA, Florida, Boston College)
Hattie Monson (L, 5-6, 2020, Morris, Ill., Adversity, Great Lakes, Notre Dame)
Sydney Reed (L, 5-7, 2020, Glenelg, Md., Metro VBC of DC, Chesapeake, Wisconsin)
Katy Ryan (OPP, 6-5, 2021, Rathdrum, Idaho, T3 VBC, Evergreen, Washington State)
Shaylee Shore (M, 6-2, 2021, Prosper, Texas, Skyline Juniors Dallas, North Texas, Rice)
Katelyn Smith (OH, 6-3, 2021, Irvine, Calif., Tstreet, Southern Cal, Southern California)
Sarah White (S, 6-0, 2021, Cranberry Township, Pa., Pittsburgh Elite, Keystone, Ohio State)
Head Coach: Dan Fisher (Head Coach, University of Pittsburgh)
Assistant Coach: Jon Newman-Gonchar (Head Coach, University of New Mexico)
Assistant Coach: Jessica Aschenbrenner (Assistant Coach, University of Denver)
Technical Coordinator: Jon Wong (Assistant Coach, Texas Tech)
Doctor: David Dyck Jr.
Team Lead: Nicole Segura (Athlete Development Lead, NTDP)
U.S. First-Round Pool-Play Schedule (all times PT)
Matches will be live streamed on the VolleyballWorld YouTube channel
July 9 at 9:30 a.m. USA vs Russia
July 10 at 6:30 a.m. PT USA vs Thailand
July 11 at 9:30 a.m. PT USA vs Turkey