In their final appearance on home soil before the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the United States Women’s Volleyball Team completed a 28-26, 25-18, 25-17 sweep of the Netherlands on Sunday afternoon at Walter Pyramid. The Americans went 3-0 this week against the Dutch, collecting a pair of sweeps after winning the opening match in five sets on Wednesday.
“I think the biggest thing is, we’re ecstatic that our group is getting to a really good state of health,” said Team USA head coach Karch Kiraly. “Jordyn Poulter was out for a while, Kathryn Plummer was out for a while, and slowly but surely, we’re chipping away at getting everybody to full health … For the first time all season, we were able to play and start the same seven people from Friday to today. So two consecutive matches, first time all year that we could play the same group, and get them a little work together as they look to gel for playing in 15 days against China.”
In addition to his coaching duties, Kiraly was honored between sets two and three on Sunday, along with the other members of the 1984 gold medal-winning Team USA men’s volleyball team.
On the court, USA and Netherlands played a back-and-forth opening set that saw both sides collect multiple set point opportunities. The teams tied at each point from 20-22, until the Dutch used a big roof to take a 24-22 lead.
Outside hitter Kathryn Plummer then came up big for the USA, putting a kill through the block before teaming up with Haleigh Washington for a big roof to tie the match, 24-all. A few points later, opposite Annie Drews worked a shot off the block to give the USA set point at 27-26, then a back-row attack by the Netherlands handed the opening game to the red, white & blue.
The USA raced out to a lead in the second, going up by six (14-8) on a service ace from Jordyn Poulter. The lead would never dip below three for the remainder of the set, and a spike from Ogbogu in the middle would give her team the 25-18 win and put the Americans up 2-0 in the match.
Again Team USA raced out to an early 7-3 advantage in the third, but the orange-clad visitors did well to battle back and take a 10-9 lead. A kill from Washington got the Americans back level and they wouldn’t trail again, pulling away for a 25-17 win thanks to a roof from Lauren Carlini and Ogbogu on match point.
After the sweep, the teams played a customary exhibition fourth set, which saw both teams utilize different lineups. The Netherlands bounced back in that additional fourth set, winning 25-22.
The Americans posted a 3-0 record this week against the Netherlands, and seemed to find their footing after a slow start. The US dropped two of the first three sets this week before rattling off eight wins in a row to close the competition.
With a little over two weeks until their first match in Olympic competition, Kiraly and his group will reflect on the positives from this week, but also fine-tune other areas in their quest for gold.
“I think our serving was a little up and down on Friday, and at other times we’ve been really good. So we’re looking to be more consistent there,” Kiraly explained. “We’re still working to have the speed of our offense and the tempo and the connections between setters and hitters down, so we still have some work to do there. Our block and defense was quite good, with people like Haleigh Washington racking up blocks … So we’ve improved some things, and we’re still excited to keep honing our game.”
Following Sunday’s action, the near-sellout crowd of over 3,500 fans got to show love to both the USA men’s and women’s volleyball teams–along with beach volleyball pair Kelly Cheng and Sara hughes–wishing them good luck before their trips to France.
Men’s volleyball pool play begins on July 27 for the Americans with a match against Argentina, with the women’s team opening their Olympic journey two days later on July 29 against China. Beach volleyball matches will also begin on July 27.
