Jordyn Poulter
Jordyn Poulter (born July 31, 1997) is an American professional women's volleyball player for the United States women's national volleyball team. Poulter played collegiate volleyball with the University of Illinois Fighting Illini from 2015 to 2018. Poulter won gold with the national team at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Early life. Poulter was born in Naperville, Illinois and grew up in Aurora, Colorado, attending high school at Eaglecrest High School. She was the overall No. 3 nationally (and top setter) ranked recruit coming out of high school and won several state and national awards, including the  Andi Collins award for the best setter in the country. She totaled 2,529 assists, 716 kills, 664 digs, 385 blocks and 208 aces over 101 high school matches. Career. University of Illinois. Poulter was recruited by several top college volleyball teams, with her final two choices being UCLA and Illinois, ultimately committing to Illinois as between her freshman and sophomore years in high school. She was a two time All-American and was named the Big Ten Setter of the Year during her senior season, and led Illinois to a Final Four appearance. Professional & US National Team. She currently plays  professionally for Italian Series A1 (Italy's top professional league) club volleyball team, Busto Arsizio Volley. She began training with the senior US National Team in the summer of 2018, while she was still in college. She was part of the team that won a gold medal in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League tournament, as well as the 2019 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup. In May 2021, she was named to the 18-player roster for the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. Poulter started the majority of the matches, and USA won the gold  medal for the third straight year after defeating Brazil. She was named "Best Setter" at the conclusion of the tournament. On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced she would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. After starting all matches, Poulter suffered an ankle injury the final pool play match against Italy. The injury forced her to miss the quarterfinals versus Dominican Republic however USA was able to win the match after fellow setter Micha Hancock came in as a substitute. Poulter successfully returned to lead her  team to victories in the semifinals and eventually led Team USA to their first ever gold medal in women's indoor competition. For her efforts, she was named as the "Best Setter" of the Olympics.