Madisen Skinner among handful of players with Texas volleyball ties to try out for national team

Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman
Texas outside hitter Madisen Skinner, center, celebrates a point against Nebraska during the Longhorns' win in the NCAA Division I championship match in December. Skinner joins several former Longhorns on the list of possible players for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Texas outside hitter Madisen Skinner, center, celebrates a point against Nebraska during the Longhorns' win in the NCAA Division I championship match in December. Skinner joins several former Longhorns on the list of possible players for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Texas volleyball could hold a reunion of sorts on the U.S. Women’s National Team at the upcoming Volleyball Nations League, based on the list of 30 athletes who will be considered for the team.

That list includes former Texas players Asjia O’Neal, Brionne Butler, Zoe Fleck and Chiaka Ogbogu as well as current Longhorn Madisen Skinner.

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U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Karch Kiraly and his staff will select 14 athletes from the list to compete at the United States’ VNL stops in Rio de Janeiro May 15-19, Arlington May 28-June 2 and Fukuoka, Japan, June 11-16. The final round of the VNL is scheduled for June 20-23 in Bangkok.

Kiraly has said that he will use the early VNL matches to help choose the players for his 2024 Paris Olympic Games roster, which will have 12 players plus an alternate.

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Ogbogu is among the nine players on the roster that played for the 2020 Olympic gold medal team. Butler and O’Neal also have VNL experience.

Skinner, arguably the most decorated player in college volleyball, will key Texas’ hopes for winning a third consecutive nation championship in 2024. A 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Katy in her third season with the Longhorns, Skinner earned the Final Four’s most outstanding player honor in 2023 after finishing the championship-match win over Nebraska with 16 kills, two aces and one block while leading the Longhorns to a second consecutive national title. She finished the season ranked fifth in the nation in points per set (5.54) and sixth nationally in kills per set (4.8) and led the team with 46 service aces while earning first-team All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Madisen Skinner, former Texas volleyball players trying out for US team

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