Sitting Volleyball Preview

Sitting volleyball is a sport in which the U.S. women have earned plenty of success over the years. The U.S. women are currently the top-ranked team in the world and are the defending Paralympic gold medalists. The Americans defeated three-time Paralympic champion China in 2016 to win their first Paralympic gold following consecutive silvers in 2008 and 2012. Team USA has won three straight world championship silver medals and two consecutive Parapan American Games gold medals. The Americans qualified for this summer’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo with their silver-medal finish at the 2018 world championships.

The U.S. women are led by several experienced players, including four-time Paralympian Lora Webster, who is one of nine players worldwide to compete in all four Paralympic Games for women’s sitting volleyball. Three-time Paralympians Katie Holloway and Heather Erickson are joined by two-time Paralympians Tia Edwards, Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, Monique Matthews, Nicky Nieves, Lexi Shifflett and Bethany Zummo. First-time Paralympians will be Whitney Dosty, Emma Schieck and Jillian Williams.

The Paralympic competition in Tokyo will feature eight teams the women’s bracket, with a preliminary round-robin determining the placements going into a knockout round. The U.S. will face off against Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, the Russian Paralympic Committee and Rwanda. Sitting volleyball competition will take place in the Makuhari Messe Hall.

Sitting volleyball takes place on a slightly smaller court than its Olympic counterpart and with a lower net. Most other rules remain the same, but the biggest rule in sitting volleyball is players must remain seated with their torsos in contact with the floor. Athletes are placed into one of two classifications based on physical ability.

Updated on July 19, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer.

The U.S. women will look to keep a medal streak intact at the Tokyo Games. The U.S. has medaled at every edition of women’s volleyball since it made its debut on the Paralympic program in 2004. 

The competition should be fierce in Tokyo as seven of the world’s top 10 teams will take part in the Paralympic tournament. The U.S., China and Brazil were the Paralympic medalists in 2016 while Russia, the U.S. and China were the medalists at the most recent world championships in 2018.
Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, 25, won her first Paralympic medal as a teenager in London and is now heading into her third Paralympic Games as one of Team USA’s key players. She is known as one of the best setters in the world, earning that title for the U.S. at both the 2018 world championships and 2019 Parapan American Games. 

Katie Holloway, 35, is going to her fourth Paralympic Games. She made history in college at Cal State Northridge, becoming the first woman with a prosthetic limb to play NCAA Division I college basketball. Holloway burst onto the Paralympic scene in 2008 by leading Team USA in scoring, and is a two-time USA Volleyball Female Sitting Player of the Year.

Monique Matthews, 32, has earned a reputation as a talented hitter and all-around player since making her Paralympic debut in 2012. Matthews was named USA Volleyball Female Sitting Volleyball Player of the Year in 2019 and was chosen as the best server at the World ParaVolley Super 6.

Lora Webster, 35, is the longest-tenured member of the national team. She has played on the team since 2004 and will be making her fifth Paralympic appearance. Webster has taken part in every edition of women’s Paralympic volleyball. She is a two-time USA Volleyball Sitting Player of the Year and was named Best Blocker at the 2016 Rio Games.
August 27, 2021: Paralympic competition gets underway with preliminary round play.
September 3, 2021: Classification matches and semifinals
September 4, 2021: Bronze-medal match
September 5, 2021: Gold-medal match