USA falls to Türkiye; Olympic volleyball roster coming this week
Jordyn Poulter sets with one hand as she tries to connect with Dana Rettke/Volleyball World photo by Dana Drambarean, @bet.on.her.collective
ARLINGTON, Texas — This is the week.
After two rounds of Volleyball Nations League, in which the USA women finished 4-4 and stand in eighth-place in the 16-team field, this is the week that coach Karch Kiraly said the USA’s Paris Olympic roster will be released.
The team will consist of 12 players and one alternate — an alternate who, for the first time, can be subbed into the roster during the Games — and Kiraly and staff have tough decisions to make.
Speaking of tough, they are coming off another tough defeat.
The Americans, who lost in four to Poland on Saturday, lost in five Sunday, this time to Türkiye 25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 25-12, 12-15 in a fierce battle in a nearly sold-out College Park Center on the campus of UT Arlington.
Now, before the team heads to Fukuoka, Japan, for the third round that starts June 11, they’ll regroup at the training center in Anaheim and prepare for the stretch run into the summer.
“We would like to name (the roster) at some point this week. We’re not sure we’re going to accomplish that, but we’re optimistic. We would like to travel to week three with our Olympic team,” Kiraly said. “Plus a couple of alternates. We haven’t figured out who those will be. That’s something that’s hanging over the head of all the people here and all of our people home, too. It’s not an easy time for them.
“It’s a really stressful time, not only to have to not only compete hard with some of the world’s top teams, like Poland and Türkiye, but also the stress of a looming decision coming in a few short days.”
The USA staff has tough decisions to make, particularly at outside hitter and setter, and two veterans, opposite Annie Drews and outside Kelsey Robinson Cook, had not played VNL yet. And what player/role does the staff want to fill with the alternate?
The USA, of course, won the gold at the last Olympics, in 2021 in Tokyo, but now also has to focus on remaining in the top eight to make the VNL finals.
The Americans led 11-9 in the fifth set before Türkiye went on a 7-1 run, a combination of big plays by the Turks and some untimely errors by the USA.
Opposite Jordan Thompson led the USA with 13 kills, seven digs and three blocks. Outside Jordan Larson had 12 kills and two of the team’s three aces to go with nine digs. Setter Jordyn Poulter had the other ace to go with two kills and 11 digs. Her team hit .280 and had nine serving errors.
Three of them came from Kathryn Plummer, who again started at outside hitter. She had seven kills but four errors and had a block. Avery Skinner replaced her in the third set and had three kills. Then Ali Frantti took that spot in the fourth set and lit it up from the start as the Americans won that set 25-12.
“That was an anomaly. Teams are not going to go up 18-7 on Türkiye very often,” Kiraly said, “But we put together some really nice volleyball and Ali played a big role in that, giving us that spark that got us going.”
Frantti finished with six kills, but three of her four errors came in the fifth.
Middle Dana Rettke had another strong match, with 10 kills in 17 errorless attacks, three blocks and six digs. Chiaka Ogbogu played the first three sets at middle and had two kills and five blocks. Haleigh Washington replaced her and sparkled in the fourth set three kills in as many swings and two blocks. But Washington — who played all four of her years at Penn State with Frantti — didn’t get a block or a kill in the fifth. They were freshman at Penn State when setter Micha Hancock was a senior. Hancock played briefly and had a kill.
“We’re still finding our groove,” Washington admitted. “I love that we’re fighting and pushing people and we’re not the best we can be yet.”
Libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 14 digs.
Türkiye is 6-2 and in fifth place. Poland and Brazil both are 8-0 and Italy and Japan are also 6-2.
Melissa Vargas was beastly for Türkiye and had 23 kills, two blocks, 10 digs and two aces. Ebrar Karakurt had 17 kills, 10 digs and two blocks.
They are a handful and very tough to game-plan for,” Kiraly said.
Eda Erdem had nine kill and three blocks.
“It was a really tough match for us,” Erdem said. “USA is a great team and they’re real fighters. In the tiebreaker, we stepped up and showed our character as a team.
“Our goal here was to finish this week with four wins and I’m glad we did it. My teammates were amazing this week. We had injuries and it’s a long tournament, but we’re trying to do our best and find our rhythm. I think we’re on the right path.”
Earlier Sunday at UTA, Canada swept Korea to improve to 5-3 and stay in the hunt for an Olympic berth.
According to Volleybal World, “Even though the 1.85 World Ranking points they earned with the result weren’t enough to push them above the Netherlands (290.95), who currently hold the last spot inside the qualification zone, it got them to 288.74, keeping the distance between the two national teams at just over two points ahead of the last week of the VNL Preliminary Phase.”
Canada will also be in Fukuoka and plays Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and France. The USA plays France, the Netherlands and Japan.
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