How the U.S. women’s volleyball team can defend its gold medal at Paris Olympics

Coming off a gold medal victory in the Tokyo games, the US women’s volleyball national team will look succeed again.

As the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team looks to defend its gold medal winning-performance in the Tokyo Games from three years ago, the main theme of the roster heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics is experience.

Eight of the 12 women on the roster are back from the prior Olympics, including outside hitter Jordan Larson, who is playing in her fourth Olympics. The Nebraska Cornhusker legend has a stacked medal cabinet — she won silver in London in 2012, bronze in Rio in 2016 and, of course, gold in Tokyo — as she looks to add a fourth this year.

Here is everything you need to know for the U.S. Women’s Volleyball Team ahead of the Olympics.

The Roster

(players in bold are making at least their second Olympics)

• No. 2 Jordyn Poulter, Setter, 6’2” | Aurora, Colo.| University of Illinois
• No. 3 Avery Skinner, Outside Hitter, 6’1” | Katy, Texas | University of Kentucky/Baylor
• No. 4 Justine Wong-Orantes, Libero, 5’6” | Cypress, Cali. | University of Nebraska/USC
• No. 7 Lauren Carlini, Setter, 6’2” | Aurora, Ill. | University of Wisconsin
• No. 10 Jordan Larson, Outside Hitter, 6’2” | Hooper, Neb. | University of Nebraska
• No. 11 Annie Drews, Opposite, 6’4” | Elkhart, Ind. | Purdue University
• No. 12 Jordan Thompson, Opposite, 6’4” | Edina, Minn. | University of Cincinnati
• No. 15 Haleigh Washington, Middle Blocker, 6’3” | Colorado Springs, Colo. | Penn State University
• No. 16 Dana Rettke, Middle Blocker, 6’8” | Riverside, Ill. | University of Wisconsin
• No. 22 Kathryn Plummer, Outside Hitter, 6’6” | Aliso Viejo, Cali. | Stanford University
• No. 23 Kelsey Robinson Cook, Outside Hitter, 6’2” | Bartlett, Ill. | University of Tennessee/Nebraska
• No. 24 Chiaka Ogbogu, Middle Blocker, 6”2 | Coppel, Texas | University of Texas
• Alternates: Micha Hancock, Morgan Hentz, Sarah Wilhite Parsons, Anna Stevenson Hall, Khalia Lanier.

The US brings back a boatload of experience with this 2024 roster. Libero Justine Wong-Orantes anchored the team’s back row, while Jordyn Poulter was the starting setter in all of the US’s matches except for the quarter finals against the Dominican Republic, which she missed due to injury. Jordan Thompson and Jordan Larson return a lot of firepower from the outside hitter spot.

It will be interesting to see how the players making their Olympic debut factor into the rotation. Middle blocker Dana Rettke, Kathryn Plummer and Avery Skinner are three of some of the best volleyball players I’ve ever watched since starting to cover the women’s college volleyball in 2019 (I am a proud Wisconsin grad, so am very happy to see Rettke and Carlini on the roster). All three of those players led their teams to national titles, with Plummer winning national title rings at Stanford during three out of her four years.

Both Rettke and Plummer factored heavily in the rotation in the last session of the Volleyball Nations League matches, so they should be interesting options for Team USA’s iconic coach Karch Kiraly.

Who Stands in USA’s Way?

Although Team USA is the defending gold medal team, they are currently sat at fifth in the global rankings.

Fortunately for the US, they seem to have avoided a tougher pool play stage. Along with the hosts France — the second lowest ranked team in the Olympics at 19, the US are in a group with Serbia, 11 and China, 6. At this stage, any group will be tough, but the US will not have extremely tough competition until the later stages with some of the other likely favorites of Italy, Brazil and Turkey. The Serbian team did win Bronze in Tokyo, but the US beat that team in the semifinals in straight sets that go-around.

Meanwhile, Italy and their super star opposite Paola Egonu might be the highest ranked team, but they will face off with Turkey in their group stage play. If you’re looking for the best possible match before the knockout rounds, that would be one to watch.

Olympic History

The first time that women’s volleyball was played in the Olympics was during the 1964 games in Tokyo. That year, Team USA did not get past the group stage, finishing fifth.

The US made their first gold medal match in 1984 when the Olympics were in Los Angeles, earning their first of three silver medals. The US won a bronze in Barcelona in 1992 as well in Rio in 2016.

After back-to-back silver medals in 2012 and 2016 and the bronze in Rio, the US broke through with their first gold medal win in Tokyo in 2021.

As far as historical medal winners, the US sits behind China, Cuba, Brazil and Japan for gold medal wins. China and Cuba have three golds each with Brazil and Japan both winning two golds. The Soviet Union won four, but that nation doesn’t exist in its current form so it can’t continue their streak.

Strengths and Weaknesses

As stated before: The US has a wealth of Olympic experience on its roster.

With eight of the 12 players on the roster returning after winning the gold in Tokyo, that clearly highlights the talent and strength of the team.

Team USA brings a high-powered offense into the tournament and look strong at the setter position with Jordyn Poulter and Lauren Carlini backing her up. Carlini was an alternate to on the 2021 team and has vast international experience.

Team USA also has an impressive set of options at the outside hitter spot. The team has two Olympic team-returners with the legend Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook. In addition, two first-time Olympians in Kathryn Plummer and Avery Skinner, who packed a punch in college. Plummer especially had a great back row attack while leading Stanford to three national titles, and she has incredible size for the position standing at 6-foot-6.

One possible weakness for Team USA is the lack of defensive specialists. With only one libero — Justine Wong-Orantes — on the full roster, if Team USA has any issues with injuries or starts to struggle on serve receive, there aren’t options on the bench to make some backrow changes to alleviate any strong service runs from the other teams.

The team looks set to make a statement in Paris, but will be challenged if they make it to later stages and face off against other talented teams.