After just one week of Volleyball Nations League competition, two words come to mind to describe the 2019 U.S. Women’s National Team: youth and depth. 

With many Team USA veterans still playing overseas at the beginning of May as the team prepared for Volleyball Nations League, the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, California, home of the men’s and women’s national teams, was filled with current college players and recent college grads and just a few returners. 

Head coach Karch Kiraly then put together a 14-player travel roster for the first week of VNL that featured just six veterans alongside nine athletes competing in their first major international tournament with the senior USA squad.

And when you’re using the word “veteran” to refer to players like Hannah Tapp and Sarah Wilhite Parsons, who are both just 23 years old, that should give you an idea of just what we’re talking about when we say “youth.” 

Sure, plenty of countries might kick off the season with a different lineup of players than they plan to utilize come the later rounds of pool play and the Final Six, whether that’s because their top players are still wrapping up professional seasons or electing to take a few weeks of much-needed rest in order to be fresh for the Olympic Qualification Tournaments later in the summer. 

But how many teams can say they brought a rookie squad and walked away with three wins and nine total points? That’s right, this youthful group of American patriots have put Team USA tied with Turkey for first place in the standings after Week 1. 

(In fact, it’s actually sort of bizarre how perfectly tied the U.S. women are with Turkey. Both teams won all three matches, with an overall ratio of nine sets won to one lost and 249 points won to 198 points lost.)

Here’s how it went down:

Match No. 1: Belgium

25-23, 25-8, 25-22

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“Veterans” Annie Drews (25) and Wilhite Parsons carried the majority of the offensive load in the tournament-opener, contributing 19 and 15 points, respectively, but University of Wisconsin rising junior Dana Rettke seriously impressed with seven kills in just nine attempts (with no errors to hit 0.778) and two stuff blocks. 

Recent Illinois grad Jordyn Poulter started at the setting position, and Megan Courtney provided reliability on the first contact as the libero.

The variance in the scores of each set indicate a bit of youthful inconsistency, but the American squad never trailed its European opponents at any point through the match and that 25-8 scoreline in the second set is just plain impressive and suggests the amount of talent in this group.

“We have got a lot of youth here with four players making their national team debuts. Their poise, calm and consistency was particularly impressive,” Kiraly said in a press release from USA Volleyball. “Also impressive was Jordyn Poulter, one of our young setters, having great confidence in Dana Rettke in setting her at 23-22 in the third set. Just fun to see all the contributions that people were able to make.” 

Match No. 2: Japan

25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20 

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Team USA came out the next night for its match with Japan making four changes in the starting lineup.

Micha Hancock, a member of the national team since 2016, took over the reins at the setting position, while Mikaela Foecke got her first FIVB start after coming in briefly as a sub against Belgium. In the middle, Kiraly started Haleigh Washington and Tapp in place of Chiaka Ogbogu and Rettke. 

In her first appearance in a major FIVB tournament with Team USA, former Penn Stater Washington starred, collecting a team-high 20 points on 12 kills, five blocks, and three aces. She played a major role in leading the Americans to a 14 to six advantage in blocks over the smaller Japanese team. 

“[Japan] run a fast offense, they grind, they play hard in defense,” USA assistant coach Luke Slabe said. “But USA played really well defense today and found some really good solutions offensively. We had a lot of good help from the bench. Overall, a very good team effort.” 

By “good help from the bench,” you’d have to assume Slabe is talking about 22-year-old opposite Jordan Thompson, who is still in college at the University of Cincinnati. Thompson entered the match with Japan leading 20-17, and then the USA went on an eight to one scoring run, with Thompson smashing a crosscourt kill to the floor in her first play of the match and then following up with three blocks before the end of the set. 

Kiraly chose to start Thompson in place of Drews in the fourth set, and despite playing less than a set and a half, the UC star finished the match with 13 points, tied with Madi Kingdon Rishel and Hannah Tapp for second-highest on the team.

Match No. 3: Bulgaria

25-20, 25-16, 25-21

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Another match, another starting lineup. Against Bulgaria on Thursday, Kiraly chose Poulter as his setter, with Thompson earning the opposite spot. Foecke and Wilhite Parsons played on the left, while Kiraly went with Ogbogu and Rettke in the middle. 

This time, Wilhite Parsons led the offense, tallying 16 points, while Rettke contributed a team-high five blocks. Mary Lake, the current BYU libero, subbed in during the first and third sets.

“I am really impressed with how this group worked and learning, and working together in all the various combinations we have put on the court so far,” Kiraly said. “We came here not having any expectations. We didn't get a lot of time of training together, and that is not unusual. Almost every team had little time to train and prepare. A lot of teams are playing with some new faces and younger players that involve a lot of learning.”

Only Courtney at libero remained the same for all three matches, and of the 14 players that traveled to Bulgaria for the first week of VNL, only Simone Lee did not play in a single point.