University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Stephanie Samedy Makes VNL USA Team
5/16/2023 10:16:00 AM | Volleyball
She's one of 30 players selected for the team
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Former Gopher and five-time AVCA All-American Stephanie Samedy has been named to the 30-player USA Women's National Team roster for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
Volleyball Nations League is the world's premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round.
The United States will host the 2023 Women's VNL Final Round on July 12-16 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, which means the U.S. automatically qualifies.
Fourteen players from the roster of 30 will be selected to travel to each week's preliminary round matches.
Eight Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalists return to the U.S. roster for 2023 led by outside hitter Jordan Larson, a three-time Olympian who was the MVP in Tokyo.
She is joined on the roster by Olympic outside hitter Kelsey (Robinson) Cook, middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington, setter Micha Hancock, opposites Annie Drews and Jordan Thompson and libero Justine Wong-Orantes.
Newcomers to the VNL are outside hitters Roni Jones-Perry, Khalia Lanier and Avery Skinner, middles, Madeleine Gates, Danielle Hart and Asjia O'Neal, opposite Stephanie Samedy, setters Ashley Evans and Tori Dilfer-Stringer, and libero Brooke Nuneviller.
The team is led by Head Coach Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympian and three-time gold medalist as a player who took over as head coach of the U.S. Women in 2013.
Kiraly's first assistant is Tama Miyashiro, who won a silver medal as a libero with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. The second assistants will be Marv Dunphy, Alfee Reft and Erin Virtue.
The U.S. Women are the reigning Olympic champions and ranked No. 4 in the world. They have won the VNL three times (2018, '19, '21) since its inception in 2018.
U.S. Women's Preliminary Roster for 2023 VNL
No. Name (Pos., Ht., Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Micha Hancock (S, 5-11, Edmond, Okla., Penn State Univ., Oklahoma)
3 Kendall White (L, 5-5, Zionsville, Ind., Penn State, Hoosier)
4 Justine Wong-Orantes (L, 5-6, Cypress, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
5 Ali Frantti (OH, 6-1, Spring Grove, Ill., Penn State, Great Lakes)
6 Morgan Hentz (L, 5-9, Lakeside Park, Ky., Stanford Univ., Pioneer)
7 Lauren Carlini (S, 6-2, Aurora, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
8  Brionne Butler (MB, 6-4, Kendleton, Texas, Univ. of Texas, Lone Star)
10 Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Univ. of Nebraska, Great Plains)
11 Annie Drews (Opp, 6-4, Elkhart, Ind., Purdue Univ., Hoosier)
12 Jordan Thompson (Opp, 6-4, Edina, Minn., Univ. of Cincinnati, North Country)
14 Anna Stevenson (MB, 6-2, Laurens S.C., Univ. of Louisville, Palmetto)
15 Haleigh Washington (MB, 6-3, Colorado Springs, Colo., Penn State Univ., Rocky Mountain)
16 Dana Rettke (MB, 6-8, Riverside, Ill., Univ. of Wisconsin, Great Lakes)
18 Kara Bajema (OH, 6-2, Lynden, Wash., Univ. of Washington, Puget Sound)
19 Jenna Gray (S, 6-1, Shawnee, Kan., Stanford Univ., Heart of America)
20 Danielle Cuttino (Opp, 6-4, Indianapolis, Ind., Purdue, Hoosier)
21 Simone Lee (OH, 6-1, Menomonee Falls, Wis., Penn State, Badger)
22 Kathryn Plummer (OH, 6-6, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
23 Kelsey Robinson (OH, 6-2, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Univ. of Nebraska, Southern California)
24 Chiaka Ogbogu (MB, 6-2, Coppell, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
25 Brooke Nuneviller (OH, 5-11, Chandler, Ariz., Univ. of Oregon, Arizona)
26 Asjia O'Neal (MB, 6-3, Southlake, Texas, Univ. of Texas, North Texas)
27 Avery Skinner (OH, 6-1, Katy, Texas, Baylor, Lone Star)
28 Ashley Evans (S, 6-1, Liberty Township, Ohio, Purdue, Ohio Valley)
29 Khalia Lanier (OH, 6-2, Scottsdale, Ariz., Univ. of Southern California, Arizona)
30 Danielle Hart (MB, 6-4, Virginia Beach, Va., Univ. of Wisconsin, Old Dominion)
31 Roni Jones-Perry (OH, 6-0, West Jordan, Utah, BYU, Intermountain)
34 Stephanie Samedy (Opp, 6-2, Clermont, Fla., Univ. of Minnesota, Florida)
35 Tori Dilfer-Stringer (S, 5-11, Los Gatos, Calif., Univ. of Louisville, Northern California)
36 Madeleine Gates (MB, 6-3, San Diego, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
U.S. Women's Schedule for the 2023 VNL
All matches will be broadcast on volleyballworld.tv
Week 1 (all times PT) at Antalya, Türkiye
May 31 at 7 a.m. USA vs Serbia
June 2 at 10 a.m. USA vs Italy
June 3 at 7 a.m. USA vs Korea
June 4 at 10 a.m. USA vs Türkiye
Week 2 at Brasilia, Brazil
June 13 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Croatia
June 15 at 10 a.m. USA vs Thailand
June 17 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Japan
June 18 at 6 a.m. USA vs Brazil
Week 3 at Suwon, Korea
June 27 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs Poland
June 28 at 11:30 p.m. USA vs Bulgaria
July 1 at 1:30 a.m. USA vs Germany
July 2 at 1:30 a.m. USA vs China
Final Round will be July 12-16 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.