Madi's moments: USA heading to Nations League finals after Texas triumphs
The United States picked up three wins on home soil to reach the final round in Poland
Published
14 JUL 2025
Est. reading time
2 min
The U.S. Women’s National Team will take part in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League final round later this month, after recording a trio of victories in Texas during Week 3.
Erik Sullivan’s side won their first three matches at College Park Center in Arlington, to confirm qualification for the competition’s showpiece event in Łódź, Poland, from 23rd-27th July.
Things began positively, as the USA kicked off proceedings with a 3-1 triumph over underdogs Thailand on Wednesday (28-26, 21-25, 27-25, 25-15) — before beating the Dominican Republic by an identical scoreline the following night (23-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20).
And Madi made her mark in the second of those games, as she registered five points from four kills and a block, as well as serving impressively throughout.
She put more points on the board in the United States’ third outing, too, as the hosts fended off five match points to win a 3-2 thriller against fellow North Americans Canada (26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 19-17).
Madi racked up 16 kills, one block and two aces on that occasion, as passage through to the final round was secured with a game to spare.
“We are still kind of learning about each other a little bit trying to figure out what buttons to push and how we respond,” head coach Sullivan said, after the match.
“We try to give them a little more emotional support when things not necessarily just don’t go our way but when we just don’t have quality touches and you can see we are a little frustrated.
“Our staff was giving more of a pump-up vibe and I thought that helped a little bit.
“Our goal this summer was to give some players opportunities. We will shuffle around and continue to do that. I don’t want to abandon that just because we qualified.”
That’s exactly what Sullivan did, as a number of less experienced players featured in the United States’ 3-2 defeat to China on Sunday.
As a result, the U.S. Women's National Team ended the preliminary round with a record of seven wins and five losses.
Having finished eighth in the table, Madi and her team-mates will now face a tough test against top-seeds Italy in the quarter-finals on Wednesday 23rd July — Julio Velasco’s unit have won all 12 of their Nations League outings to date.
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