Egonu, who was also the MVP of last year’s VNL, was the top Italian scorer in the Preliminary Phase with 171 points, good enough to place her in 10th place in the tournament’s table. Ranking sixth among the tournament’s top defenders with 120 digs, De Gennaro is another individual standout for the defending champions heading into the Finals.
The United States, which won three straight VNL titles in 2018, 2019 and 2021, were the last team to book their tickets to Łódź, ranking eighth in the Preliminary Phase with seven wins and five losses. The Americans are going through massive changes in 2025 as they not only have just three players who won silver at last year’s Paris Olympics – setter Jordyn Poulter, outside hitter Avery Skinner and middle blocker Dana Rettke – in their roster, but also have a new head coach in Erik Sullivan.
One of the new faces in the team, outside hitter Sarah Franklin was the top American scorer in the Preliminary Phase, with 135 points registered. Skinner only appeared in three matches in the VNL 2025 so far, but was in excellent form, producing 61 points in those encounters.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs, which comes with the first year after the Olympics and the beginning of the quad,” Skinner said. “We have a lot of veterans who are not with the team now, but it’s been a good opportunity to get some younger girls to play. So, it was about learning and evolving each week, and I think we’ve done that. It’s important for us to be in the Finals, and our goal is to keep working on our team.”