U.S. Women's Olympic Team for Rio

With the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro just one day away, there is much anticipation among volleyball fans regarding the various competitions within the sport. Kerri Walsh will be seeking her fourth straight gold medal in women's beach volleyball (this time partnered with April Ross, rather than longtime partner Misty May), but we'll save that topic for another day.

The present entry is about the U.S. women's indoor team, which is seeking its first Olympic gold medal in program history. After a shocking setback to Brazil in the final of the 2012 London Olympics, the U.S. women won their first major international title at the 2014 World Championships. The Americans then took third at the 2015 World Cup.

There appear to be several top contenders on the Rio hardwood, besides the U.S., including home-team Brazil, China, Serbia, and Russia. Don't be surprised to see semifinal and final matches coming down to decisive fifth games!

The following chart presents the U.S. women's roster (obtained here), with a focus on the players' collegiate success in making American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America teams.

Player (Position)	College	All-America Teams (AVCA)
Rachael Adams (Middle)	Texas	1st, 2011; 1st, 2010
Foluke Akinradewo (Middle)	Stanford	1st, 2008; 1st, 2007; 1st, 2006; 2nd, 2005
Kayla Banwarth (Libero)	Nebraska	---
Christa (Harmotto) Dietzen (Middle)	Penn State	1st, 2008; 1st, 2007; 2nd, 2006; HM, 2005
Alisha Glass (Setter)	Penn State	1st, 2009; 1st, 2008; 2nd, 2007
Kim Hill (Outside Hitter/left)	Pepperdine	1st, 2011; HM, 2010; HM, 2009
Jordan Larson (Outside Hitter/left)	Nebraska	1st, 2008; 3rd, 2007; 1st, 2006
Carli Lloyd (Setter)	Cal	1st, 2010; 2nd, 2009; 2nd, 2008
Karsta Lowe (Opposite/right)	UCLA	1st, 2014; HM, 2013
Kelly Murphy (Opposite/right)	Florida	1st, 2011; 1st, 2010; 2nd, 2009; 3rd, 2008
Kelsey Robinson (Outside Hitter/left)	Nebraska	1st, 2013; HM, 2012*; 2nd, 2011*
Courtney Thompson (Setter)	Washington	1st, 2006; 1st, 2005; 1st, 2004

*While playing for Tennessee, before transferring to Nebraska.

Foluke Akinradewo is the leading hitter in the middle, in my view, based partly on the 2015 World Cup. Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Tori Dixon, with whom I've long been impressed, might have been among the team's middle corps, but suffered an ACL injury earlier in the year.

I'm least familiar with the outside (left-side) hitters. Kim Hill played for Pepperdine, which is not in a conference I concentrate on. Jordan Larson's career goes back a ways, only partially overlapping with my time operating this blog. Kelsey Robinson, in her one year at Nebraska (2013) after transferring from Tennessee, hit .318 while taking a very high 29.2 percent (1206/4132) of the Cornhuskers' swings that year.

This Volleyball Magazine article from back in February details the intense competition between Kelly Murphy, Karsta Lowe and Nicole Fawcett for what was anticipated (and indeed turned out) to be two openings for opposite/right-side hitters on the roster. (The term "opposite" comes from being opposite the setter in the rotation.)

Lowe did not perform that well in the 2015 World Cup, but improved dramatically in the January 2016 NORCECA regional qualifying tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. Quoting from the above-linked Volleyball Magazine article:

"Teamed with [setter Courtney] Thompson in Lincoln, Lowe tallied a combined 22 kills and not a single hitting error in 34 attempts (.647) over less than 10 serving rotations."

Fawcett was named MVP of the NORCECA tournament, but ended up being the odd-woman-out for the Olympic team.

Joining Thompson in the setting ranks are Alisha Glass, key to one of Penn State's run of national titles, and Carli Lloyd (not to be confused with the U.S. soccer player of the same name). In 2010, Lloyd led Cal to the national final and was voted national Player of the Year. I once wrote of Lloyd that "during her senior campaign [in 2010, she] not only ran the high-powered Golden Bear offense, but also hit a respectable .265 on 283 tries (7% of the team's attempts) and contributed 1.08 blocks/set. (... I've come to regard an average of 1.00 or greater blocks/set as a marker for excellence in blocking.)"

All players on the U.S. roster, except former Nebraska libero Kayla Banwarth, earned at least one AVCA first-team accolade, with seven players receiving first-team honors in multiple-years.** Nor did Banwarth play extensively in overseas professional leagues. Her college coach John Cook was quoted as follows in the Des Moines Register:

“What’s really amazing, though, is she stayed with it, without really having much of a pro career," Cook said. "She’s just continued to hone her skills, training in Anaheim (Calif.), training with (U.S. coach) Karch Kiraly and training some days by herself.”

As I reported here, Kiraly gave a forum at Texas Tech University in March 2015, where he revealed many aspects of his philosophical approach to coaching.

We'll continue to track the U.S. women, as they progress through the competition in Rio.

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**For each of the last several seasons, AVCA has been bestowing first-team honors to 14 players, so being placed on the first team is more like being on a hypothetical "best roster" rather than "best starting unit."