COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Penn State women's volleyball alumnae Micha Hancock, Megan Courtney, Haleigh Washington and Simone Lee were named to the 14-player roster to compete in the opening week of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League with Team USA in Ruse, Bulgaria.
Hancock, a three-time AVCA All-America First-Team selection at Penn State (2012-2014), has played for USAV WNT in the 2016 and 2017 Pan American Cup, as well as the FIVB World Grand Prix. In 2018, she helped the Red, White & Blue finish fifth at the FIVB World Championship.
Courtney, an AVCA All-America Second-Team in 2015, has played both outside and libero for the national team, making the roster for the 2016 Pan Am Cup, and the 2017 Pan Am Cup, along with the FIVB World Grand Prix, the USA Volleyball Cup vs. Brazil, and the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup.
Washington, a three-time AVCA First Team All-America section as a Nittany Lions (2015-17) and held a .492 hitting efficiency in the 2017 season (3rd best single season percentage in NCAA history), represented Team USA in the 2018 Pan American Cup where she helped the team win gold.
Lee, a two-time first team All-America, joined Washington on the 2018 Pan American Cup team that won gold.
The Americans, who won the 2018 Volleyball Nations League, open the tournament versus Belgium on May 21 at 10 a.m. ET. The U.S. faces long-time rival Japan on May 22 at 10 a.m. ET before concluding the opening week round robin on May 23 against host Bulgaria at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The VNL, a 16-country league for both genders, includes 15 pool play matches for each country spread over five consecutive weeks with four pods of four teams competing in round-robin action every week. The top five teams from the preliminary round will compete in the VNL Final Six along with host China from July 3-7 with the winner receiving $1 million.
U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Karch Kiraly and his staff have chosen the following 14 players for the VNL opening week in Bulgaria:
- Setters (2): Micha Hancock, Jordyn Poulter
- Liberos (2): Megan Courtney, Mary Lake
- Middles (4): Chiaka Ogbogu, Dana Rettke, Hannah Tapp, Haleigh Washington
- Outsides (4): Mikaela Foecke, Madi Kingdon Rishel, Simone Lee, Sarah Wilhite Parsons
- Opposites (2): Annie Drews, Jordan Thompson