The US Girls U-17 National Team remained unbeaten at the U-17 Women's Volleyball World Championship on Monday. USA Volleyball swept Thailand 25-11, 25-21, 25-16 in Santiago, Chile. The win pushed the US to 4-0 in pool play.
USA Volleyball Controls the Net Against Thailand
Outside hitter Julia Masselink powered the effort with a match-high 17 points. She served five aces in the opening set, adding 11 kills and a block. Peyton Smith chipped in 12 points on eight kills, three aces, and a block, as Kari Knotts reached double digits with 10 kills.
Setter Ellie Enger steered the offense to a .312 hitting clip while libero Brynli Burgess anchored the back row with 11 digs. And middle Maija Mortensen contributed six kills and three blocks.
The US outhit Thailand 39-21 in kills and 12-4 at the net during match play.
Team USA Chases Pool A Lead in 1st Women's Volleyball Championship Run
The tournament marks the first U-17 World Championship appearance for USA Volleyball in just the second edition of the 24-team event. Defending champion China, Poland, and Italy also entered the week unbeaten in women's volleyball pool play in Chile.
Next up: Head coach Heather Olmstead's squad faces Czechia (3-0) in a pivotal Pool A matchup. First serve is set for 2 PM ET on Tuesday, with the group lead on the line.
Jaime Weston stepped into the Major League Volleyball commissioner’s office earlier this month at a moment of real momentum and with a clear mission: to help transform professional women’s volleyball’s early success into a blueprint for sustained growth.
Her appointment — a first for MLV — marks a homecoming of sorts, as Weston played volleyball at Georgia Tech before spending more than two decades building brands across professional sports, media, and entertainment.
In her more than 15 years with the NFL, Weston honed her skills in audience growth and modernization, drawing on previous roles with global brands like Universal Music Group and On Location. She later joined USA Volleyball, where she guided strategy in the run-up to the LA 2028 Olympics as chief commercial officer.
And now she’s taking MLV’s reins as the third-year league hits its stride.
“This is volleyball’s time,” Weston said in an MLV press release. “In the US, the sport is female-led and female-defined, and professional women’s volleyball is not following a blueprint. It’s designing one.”
From the Volleyball Court to the Gridiron and Back Again
Despite her pedigree, Weston’s path to MLV wasn’t exactly linear.
After an attempt to break into the sports world right after college didn’t pan out, Weston dove headfirst into all things business. She stockpiled a bevy of transferable skills in publishing and apparel, spending 10 years padding her resume before finally landing her first big sports gig at the NFL.
“Playing sports my entire life taught me how to bounce back. You learn resilience early, and you learn how to treat every setback as a lesson that moves you closer to where you’re meant to be,” Weston told JWS ahead of tomorrow’s 2026 MLV All-Star Match. “I decided to play the long game and bet on myself.”
And that bet paid off. Weston’s career path later came full-circle when she joined USA Volleyball in 2024, tapping into her own roots as well as her daughter’s, who currently plays NCAA beach volleyball.
“I never originally planned to work in volleyball professionally, but when the opportunity with USA Volleyball came along, it immediately resonated,” she recalled. “The chance to contribute to the sport I love… was incredibly compelling.”
Weston’s past experience instilled in her a pragmatic approach to brand building. At the NFL, she spearheaded a platform designed to engage fans beyond the confines of the football season — a strategy she views as critical to MLV’s growth.
“You cannot just show up on gameday and expect to build a following,” she said. “You have to give fans a reason to stay connected year-round through content, storytelling, and consistent touchpoints.”
But she’s also clear about the parts of the NFL or USA Volleyball playbook that don’t translate so smoothly. She noted that MLV, a relatively young league, can’t rely on decades of engrained momentum. Instead, the league is planting seeds now — and it requires more intentional, hands-on work to grow a fanbase from the ground up.
Designing a New Blueprint for Professional Volleyball
Weston is kicking off her tenure at MLV with three key priorities.
First, she’s looking to center players as league ambassadors, encouraging them to showcase their own journeys as storytellers. Second, she plans to fully integrate digital and social platforms to broaden and modernize MLV’s reach. And lastly, she aims to align the budding league with the broader volleyball ecosystem, particularly at the collegiate level.
Her timing couldn’t be better. The newly expanded MLV is in the midst of its third season, with eight current teams plus new franchises set to join in the near future. The league’s ownership spans investors with ties to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS — credibility that validates both the product on the court and the league’s viability.
“The audience already exists. The level of play is world class. The visibility of women’s sports has never been higher,” Weston explained, stressing that the iron’s never been hotter. “With the right structure, the right investment, and a long term commitment, professional women’s volleyball can establish a strong and sustainable future in the US.”
What has surprised Weston most in her first few weeks on the job? The players’ eagerness to create something bigger than themselves and the volleyball community’s unbridled enthusiasm.
“Volleyball fans are incredibly loyal,” she said. “Once you engage them authentically, there is real potential to build a passionate and enduring fan base.”
Viewing LA28 as a Women's Volleyball Springboard
Weston considers the LA 2028 Olympics as a springboard — rather than a ceiling — for women’s volleyball. And with the North America-based 2027 Women’s World Championship also on deck, she sees a solid runway for getting the word out before the Summer Games’ global spotlight lights up Southern California.
“The Olympics create awareness,” she said. “A professional league converts that awareness into sustained engagement. That is the role MLV can play in the broader volleyball ecosystem.”
With some of the sport’s biggest competitions landing in the US just as club volleyball begins to pick up speed, it appears there’s nowhere to go but up for MLV. And the league can rest assured that a volleyball lifer like Weston will be there to see it through.
“I am returning to the sport that shaped me,” she added. “But now with the experience and perspective to help build something meaningful for the next generation of players and fans.”
The next chapter of Major League Volleyball (MLV) arrived this week, with the pro volleyball league hiring veteran sports exec Jaime Weston as its first-ever commissioner on Monday.
"[Weston's] a proven sports executive who understands how to build a league, elevate athletes, and create sustained momentum," said MLV founding member and Grand Rapids Rise owner and CEO Dan DeVos in the league's Monday announcement.
Previously a senior VP of marketing at the NFL, Weston — who played volleyball collegiately at Georgia Tech — joins MLV from USA Volleyball, where she served as chief commercial officer overseeing brand strategy ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.
"This is volleyball's time," said Weston in a statement, further adding that women are leading and defining the sport in the US. "Professional women's volleyball is not following a blueprint. It's designing one."
One of two high-profile US pro leagues alongside LOVB, MLV is currently in the midst of its third season, boasting eight teams with plans to expand to 11 squads for its 2027 campaign already in place.
"Jaime's leadership brings the discipline and vision to turn this wave of energy into real enterprise value and lasting change for the game," said 2027 Northern California expansion team owner Theresia Gouw.
In a bid to return to the Olympic women's beach volleyball podium after failing to medal in Paris last year, Team USA hired three-time Olympic medalist April Ross as the Beach National Teams’ new head of coaching on Monday.
Ross will be responsible for supporting the professional development of all USA beach volleyball national team coaches, with the goal of enhancing training, competition preparedness, and performance prep.
The 42-year-old, who retired from professional play last November, aims to help return the US to the sport's elite echelons following an uncharacteristic 2024 Olympic performance where both USA pairs fell in the tournament's first two knockout rounds.
That Paris podium was the first without a US team since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Despite the uphill climb she faces, Ross is particularly equipped to lead the US contingent, having battled her way to a career-capping gold medal alongside teammate Alix Klineman at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Prior to earning gold, Ross first made the Olympic podium with teammate Jennifer Kessy at the 2012 London Games, snagging silver behind the USA's three-time gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings — the latter of whom Ross paired up with to take bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.
"April brings a unique combination of elite-level experience, deep technical knowledge, and a passion for mentoring," said USA Volleyball's director of beach national teams Sean Scott. "She's competed at the highest levels and understands what it takes to succeed."
"She is a true champion," echoed USA Volleyball CEO and president John Speraw. "We are confident that her expertise will continue to elevate US beach volleyball on the global stage, especially as we look ahead to LA 2028."
In perhaps their toughest Olympic task so far, USA Volleyball took down Brazil 3-2 in this morning’s back-and-forth semifinal to advance to Sunday’s gold medal match.
The win guarantees the US a seventh Olympic podium finish and the chance to repeat their Tokyo gold medal win — a feat they accomplished by beating Brazil back in 2021.
A volleyball rivalry with Olympic history
The longtime rival nations have met on the Olympic court many times, including five medal contests over the last eight Olympics.
In those five matches, Brazil walked away with three medals (two gold, one bronze), while Team USA notched one gold and one bronze in two wins.
Team USA ends Brazil's Olympic gold medal hopes
While there wasn’t a medal on the line in this morning's five-set thriller, the teams definitely played like there was. The US struck first, taking the first set before trading the next three with Brazil, who forced the deciding fifth set largely off the outstanding play of star Gabi Guimarães.
But the States shifted into gear in the fifth, downing Brazil 15-11 off a Kathryn Plummer kill to clinch a spot in Sunday's final.
Plummer led the US with 26 points, while fellow outside hitter Avery Skinner and opposite Annie Drews contributed an impressive 19 and 18, respectively.
What's next for USA Volleyball
Today's win might have been the USA’s toughest challenge on their path to back-to-back gold, but to complete the job, they’ll have to take down the winner of today’s Turkey-Italy semifinal.
The volleyball gold medal match will kick off on Sunday at 7 AM ET, with live coverage across NBC networks.
USA Beach Volleyball loses Olympic medal bid
Over on the sand, Team USA’s last hope for a beach volleyball medal vanished in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, making this the first Summer Olympics without a US team on the podium since 2000.
Last-standing US pair Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes fell in straight sets to Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli, just one day after fellow US duo Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth fell in the round of 16.
It’s a disappointing finish for a national contingent that’s claimed four of the previous five gold medals — most recently by Alix Klineman and April Ross’s Tokyo A-Team.