Two ex-Huskers playing on the United States women's volleyball team will get a rare chance to play a home match when the team finishes the four-week-long Volleyball Nations League tournament in Arlington, Texas, this week.
Former Husker All-Americans Kelsey (Robinson) Cook and Justine Wong-Orantes were selected for the 14-player roster for this week. Jordan Larson has also been training with the team this summer but has been injured.
The competition begins Wednesday at College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The U.S. will play Japan in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m.
The U.S. roster is highlighted by seven players from the 2020 Olympic gold medal-winning team – setter Micha Hancock; right-side hitters Annie Drews and Jordan Thompson; middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington; Cook at outside hitter and Wong-Orantes at libero.
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The No. 1-ranked Americans finished the preliminary round of the tournament in second place with a 10-2 record while playing matches in Turkey, Brazil and Korea. Their only losses were to Japan and China and both scores were 3-2.
The tournament semifinals are on Saturday, and the championship match is Sunday evening.
TEAM USA ROSTER
Setter: Micha Hancock (college at Penn State), Lauren Carlini (Wisconsin).
Libero: Justine Wong-Orantes (Nebraska), Morgan Hentz (Stanford).
Outside hitter: Ali Frantti (Penn State), Kelsey Robinson-Cook (Nebraska), Avery Skinner (Baylor), Khalia Lanier (Southern California).
Right-side hitter: Annie Drews (Purdue), Jordan Thompson (Cincinnati).
Middle blocker: Haleigh Washington (Penn State), Dana Rettke (Wisconsin), Chiaka Ogbogu (Texas), Asjia O’Neal (Texas).