The United States National Team is heading to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and two former Huskers helped the USA get there.
Team USA, ranked third in the world, completed Olympic qualification pool play without a blemish, punching its ticket to the 2020 Games with a sweep over No. 11 Argentina in Bossier City, Louisiana on Sunday.
Olympics Bound! pic.twitter.com/rgvSoJNLby
— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) August 4, 2019
Jordan Larson had 12 kills on 24 swings against Argentina while Kelsey Robinson added 10 kills on 23 attempts, two aces and one block.
USA swept No. 23 Kazakhstan on Friday and pulled off a five-set win over No. 16 Bulgaria on Saturday before Sunday’s win over Argentina, finishing Pool C play at 3-0.
GAME OVER says Kelsey Robinson. What a match by both teams!
USA vs Bulgaria Match Stats 📋 & Gallery 📸: https://t.co/uIbeycb4Bg
Watch #FIVBOQT Matches: 📺: https://t.co/M7Lg82Xw6G#Tokyo2020 #RoadToTokyo #Volleyball pic.twitter.com/xCRtBnzCtn
— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) August 4, 2019
Larson and Robinson—along with current Nebraska assistant coach Kayla Banwarth—were on the 2016 Olympic team that took home the bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. USA is the only country who has reached the podium in women’s indoor volleyball in each of the last three Olympic Games. The United stats has claimed three silver medals (1984, 2008 and 2012) and two bronze medals (1992 and 2016) in its last 11 Olympic appearances.
The Tokyo Women’s Volleyball Qualification Tournament consists of six pools of four teams with each of the six pool winners punching their tickets to the Tokyo Games, joining host country Japan as an automatic qualifier. In addition to the United States, Brazil, China, Russia, Serbia and Italy each won their pools. The final five spots into the 2020 Olympics will be determined in early January through the five confederation zonal championships.
The Olympic berth caps a successful summer of international volleyball for former Huskers. Larson, Robinson and Mikaela Foecke helped led the United States to its second straight FIVB Volleyball Nations League title in early July while Kadie Rolfzen and Justine Wong-Orantes helped guide USA to a Pan-American Cup championship in mid-July.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
