The Olympic gold medalist women’s volleyball team will be in North Texas at the end of May.
The Volleyball Nations League returns to the United States and makes a stop in Arlington at the College Park Center.
After winning gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Copeland’s Siaka Okpoku is back as a member of the team, hoping to help them win Olympic gold again. Before making Team USA, he was an All-American at the University of Texas-Austin. During her career from 2013-2017, Coppell led her high school volleyball team to state titles in 2011 and 2012.
Other notable Texans to watch in Team USA competition:
- Asjia O’Neal from Southlake, TX – Middle Blocker
- Made her senior national team debut in the 2023 Volleyball Nations League
- Two-time AVCA First Team All-American at University of Texas, helping team to NCAA Championships in 2022 and 2023
- Texas has tied her USA Women’s teammate Chiaka Ogboku for the most points in school history.
- Avery Skinner from Katy, Texas – Outside hitter
- The 2023 FIVB Road to Paris Olympic Qualifier helped the U.S. women qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
- He made his senior national team debut at the 2022 Pan Am Cup
- Won the 2020 NCAA National Championship with the University of Kentucky
- All-American at both Kentucky and Baylor University (played 2017-20 at Kentucky and final season at Baylor in 2021)
- Best spiker and top scorer at the 2022 Pan Am Cup
- Breon Butler from Kendleton, Texas – Middle Blocker
- Butler has been a member of Team USA since 2019 and will participate in the VNL in 2022.
- He made his senior national team debut at the 2019 Pan American Cup
- AVCA All-American first team in 2021 and 2020; AVCA All-American Honorable Mention in 2018
- Invited to train with senior US team in Spring 2020 (cancelled due to Covid)
- 2017 Women’s Junior (U20) National Team
- 2015-16 Women’s Youth (U18) National Team
- Madison Skinner of Katy, Texas – Outside hitter
- four-time AVCA All-American; Made the first team in 2023
- Played two years at the University of Kentucky, where the team won the national championship in 2020
- Transferred to Texas and won national championships in 2022 and 2023
- Named MVP of the 2023 National Championship
- Won the 2023 Honda Sport Award for Volleyball
- 2019 USA Volleyball Women’s Junior National Championship All-Tournament Team
The International competition May 28-June 2 Paris will host the world’s best teams competing for the last major volleyball tournament before the Olympics and the only VNL Games in the USA this year. Teams appearing include: Volleyball Nations League 2023 Champions Turkey Along with Canada, Korea, Germany, Serbia, Bulgaria And Poland.