JWO, Hancock, Robinson Cook on USA as Volleyball Nations League second leg begins

The USA women opened Volleyball Nations League 4-0, had a week off, and now are in Brasilia, Brazil, for the second round. They play Croatia on Tuesday and then face Thailand, Japan and Brazil. We caught up with three USA veterans — two who were in Türkiye — last week. By J. Anthony for VolleyballMag.com […]

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The USA women opened Volleyball Nations League 4-0, had a week off, and now are in Brasilia, Brazil, for the second round. They play Croatia on Tuesday and then face Thailand, Japan and Brazil. We caught up with three USA veterans — two who were in Türkiye — last week.

By J. Anthony for VolleyballMag.com

For a team that only spent about a week training together before heading to Türkiye to compete in the first round of the Volleyball Nation’s League, the USA women did surprisingly well, some of the veteran members said.

“I feel like we did a really good job,” libero Justine Wong-Orantes said. The Nebraska product was playing in her second VNL.

“We went four and zero, and some of us were a little surprised, but we fought hard, and I’m really super proud of us.”

Wong-Orantes, who was the libero when the USA won the Tokyo Olympics, finished her pro season in France and joined the team in mid-May.

“We realistically had maybe one week to spend with each other to go into that and not being super familiar with each other, I really commend everyone for digging deep and trusting each other and trusting the process,” Wong-Orantes said.

We caught up with Wong-Orantes, setter Micha Hancock and outside Kelsey Robinson Cook at a League One Volleyball (LOVB) event in Seal Beach, California, about a 25-minute drive from American Sports Centers in Anaheim, where the USA national volleyball teams train.

Several members of the USA squad who have signed with LOVB coached more than 150 young girls over three days at the AIM Sports Complex.

Not only are the Americans playing VNL, which culminates with the finals in Arlington, Texas, next month, they are also eyeing the Olympic-qualifying process for the 2024 Games in Paris.

“Who do we want to be? How do we want to show up? So there’s a lot of work that goes into it, and it starts in the very beginning,” two-time Olympian Robinson Cook said.

Robinson Cook did not play in Türkiye, giving her body a break after finishing an eight-month club season in Italy, and won’t be with the team in Brazil next week. She expects to play in the third round in Korea. The USA has a 30-person roster and brings 14 to each VNL round.

The group of 30 includes 10 VNL newcomers, including Avery Skinner, Asjia O’Neal and Tori Dilfer-Stringer.

“I love watching young players get their first opportunity wearing red, white, and blue, and you can’t help but feel excited for them and can’t help being part of it,” Robinson Cook said.

Entering the first week of the VNL, coach Karch Kiraly told the team to have high hopes but low expectations, said Hancock, who set in the Tokyo Olympics with Jordyn Poulter.

“Different faces are meshing together again so it’ll be interesting to see how we compete,” Hancock said. “My biggest focus as captain is not getting caught up in the results of week one or what our results could be but to have high hopes but low expectations.”

Kiraly told the team, she said, “Try to stay present with what’s in front of us and the team in front of us.”

In Türkiye, the USA beat Serbia in five, Italy in five, swept Korea and then beat Türkiye in five.

“Everyone plays their best against Team USA,” said Wong-Orantes. “That pressure and bullseye are always going to be on our back, and I think it’s worrying about our side and what we can do and what we can contribute, and that starts in the Team USA gym.”

Hancock agreed.

“All of the games I played went all five sets,” said Hancock, missing only the Korea match when Ashley Evans got the nod. “[We’re all] getting used to playing with new faces and seeing what people are like under pressure and just fighting for every ball. That was the big thing for us staying present even when things weren’t going our way, especially in front of 11,000 fans rooting against you.”

While Hancock is in Brazil, Wong-Orantes is sitting the second round out. The liberos will be Morgan Hentz, who played last week, and Kendall White. Hancock and Evans will set again. The outsides will be Kathryn Plummer and Ali Frantti, who did not play in Türkiye, and Avery Skinner and Khalia Lanier, who did. The opposites will be Jordan Thompson, who sat the first round, and Danielle Cuttino. The middles will be Asjia O’Neal and Brionne Butler, the Texas products who played the first round, and Haleigh Washington and Anna Stevenson-Hall.

Wong-Orantes said Kiraly’s “high hopes and low expectations” theme fit the team in the first week of the VNL competition.

“With that new and old blend [of players], we had a reset mentality,” she said. “Every match we’re going to, of course, compete our butts off, but in the end, the outcome isn’t the most important; it’s just how we are building to get to the bigger goal.”

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