Recap: Madi’s Nations League campaign
We look back at Madi’s performances for the United States this summer
Published
13 AUG 2025
Est. reading time
3 min
Madi made a significant impact during the United States’ 2025 Volleyball Nations League campaign, as they reached the competition’s final round in Poland.
The 24-year-old played a crucial role in a number of the team’s seven victories en route to Łódź, where Erik Sullivan's outfit ultimately suffered elimination in the quarter-finals.
In fact, the USA’s improvement across the tournament seemed to coincide with Madi’s increased game time, after she only featured briefly during the first three matches of Week 1 in Rio de Janeiro.
The LOVB Austin player saw limited minutes in the opening day defeat to Italy (0-3), then didn’t play at all in the losses against Brazil (0-3) and Czechia (2-3).
However, she was instrumental in the US picking up their first win in Week 1’s final match — putting 15 points on the board in a sweep of South Korea, while registering a .500 hitting efficiency.
That proved to be something of a catalyst for the team’s campaign, as they went on to pick up a trio of triumphs when the action moved to Belgrade for Week 2.
Madi produced a sensational performance in the first of those wins, when she scored a staggering 32 points from 30 kills and two blocks against hosts Serbia (2-3), as well as registering 12 digs.
The United States’ momentum was briefly halted by a 3-1 defeat to Poland, but they were soon back on track — sweeping the Netherlands, as Madi added a further 13 points to her tally (ten kills, two blocks and an ace).
And it was more of the same from the Opposite Hitter against France (3-2), when her 21 points (19 kills, one block and one ace) helped secure the team’s fourth victory and their third of the week.
That left Sullivan's unit with a somewhat precarious record of four wins and four defeats ahead of the last set of qualifying matches, on home soil in Arlington, TX.
But three consecutive triumphs confirmed qualification in some style, as the US beat Thailand (3-1), Dominican Republic (3-1) and Canada (3-2), before a rotated side lost 3-2 to China.
It was the match against Canada where Madi perhaps had the biggest influence, as she posted 16 kills, one block and two aces, to ensure passage to the finals in eighth place.
Unfortunately, that trip to Łódź proved to be short-lived, as the United States exited the competition to a rampant Italy side at the quarter-final stage (0-3), despite Madi’s five points from four kills and an ace.
But the Katy-born star can nonetheless look back on a productive summer with the national team, in which she emerged as a key figure in the camp — and put in a host of memorable performances.
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