CHS Alumna Avery Skinner shines in USA Volleyball's quarterfinal win
By Tyler Thompson and Ryan Clark
KentuckySportsRadio.com and the College of Health Sciences
College of Health Sciences Alumna Avery Skinner continues to impress in her first Olympics. The former Kentucky Volleyball star started again for Team USA in today’s quarterfinal match vs. Poland and played an integral part in the 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-14, 25-20). USA advances to the semifinals for the fifth straight Olympics, where they’ll face rival Brazil.
Skinner, a 2021 graduate of the Communications Sciences and Disorders program, helped UK win a national championship in her senior volleyball season. Now she hopes to lead the United States to another gold medal.
Before we worry about that, let’s talk about Skinner’s performance vs. Poland, because it was awesome. As mentioned, she started and played in all three sets, scoring back-to-back set winners to take the first and second sets. Skinner finished with 12 points on 12 kills, which was tied with Kathryn Plummer for second on the team behind Andrea Drews, who had 13 points. She also had ten digs and eight total receptions. Through three matches, Skinner has 42 points on 38 kills, 39 receptions, two aces, and two blocks.
"What you want to do is win at the end of the day and we did," she said after the match. "It was nice to be able to perform at a high level and our team to perform at a high level."
On Thursday, USA will face Brazil in the semifinals, time to be determined. The two countries have met in three of the last four gold medal matches, with Brazil winning in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, and USA finally getting revenge three years ago in Tokyo. Brazil advanced to the semifinals earlier today with a 3-0 win over the Dominican Republic. Turkey will face the winner of Italy and Serbia (in progress) on the other side of the bracket.
In the team’s last Olympic appearance in 2020, the U.S. Women won the gold medal. In 1984, 2008 and 2012 they won silver, while in 1992 and 2016 they won bronze. This summer, they are again favored to place in the top three teams in the world.
In her first Olympic match, two coaches and her athletic trainer from the University of Kentucky were able to watch her perform.
"It just means so much that they would come," Skinner said. "They're starting preseason really soon, so the fact that they took time to come here during a very stressful period just means so much. Being able to look up in the sands — being able to hang out with them after the match — I would not be here without them, so to have them here ... it was just so great, and I'm so glad they were able to come."
Find more information about times and how to watch Avery and the rest of the team here.