Justine Wong-Orantes
Wong-Orantes in 2022
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1995-10-06) October 6, 1995
Torrance, California, U.S.
HometownCypress, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight146 lb (66 kg)
Spike111 in (282 cm)
Block109 in (277 cm)
College / UniversityNebraska
Volleyball information
PositionLibero
Current clubFrance Béziers Volley (fr)
Number4 (national team)
1 (current club)
Career
YearsTeams
2019–2020Germany Schweriner SC
2020–2022Germany VC Wiesbaden
2022–presentFrance Béziers Volley
National team
2017–United States United States
Honours
Women’s Volleyball
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2020 TokyoTeam
World Cup
Silver medal – second place2019 JapanTeam
FIVB Nations League
Gold medal – first place2018 NanjingTeam
Gold medal – first place2021 RiminiTeam
NORCECA Championship
Silver medal – second place 2019 San Juan Team
Pan-American Cup
Gold medal – first place 2017 Cañete/Lima
Gold medal – first place 2018 Santo Domingo
Gold medal – first place 2019 Trujillo/Chiclayo
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Santo Domingo
World Grand Champions Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Japan Team

Justine Wong-Orantes (born October 6, 1995) is an American volleyball player. She is a libero. In 2021, she became a gold medalist at both the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the Volleyball Nations League in Rimini.

Career

Early life and high school

Wong-Orantes is of Filipino-Chinese descent on her mother's side and of Mexican descent on her father's side. Both of her parents, Winnie Wong and Robert Orantes, were volleyball players. Her father also coached the Mizuno Long Beach volleyball club.[1]

She was an accomplished beach volleyball player from a young age, partnering with Sara Hughes and appearing on "Volleyball" magazine covers at age 12, after winning a prestigious beach volleyball California tournament. She was the youngest female to ever earn an AAA rating in beach volleyball.[2] She attended high school at Los Alamitos High School in Cypress, California,[3] where as an indoor player, her position was setter where she led her Long Beach-based club team to a national title.[4]

Due to her being considered undersized at 5'6", she was not heavily recruited coming out of high school by top volleyball schools. It wasn't until she was attending a high school club tournament, when the head coach got tired of so many balls dropping easily and asked her to put on a libero jersey. Nebraska head coach John Cook happened to be at the tournament and watched her play in her first ever match as libero. He saw potential in her, invited her for a visit to campus, where she eventually committed to play.[4]

University of Nebraska

She would complete her collegiate career at Nebraska in both beach and indoor volleyball.[5][6] In indoor volleyball, she won several accolades including AVCA First Team All-American in 2016, Third Team All-American in 2015, was a two time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 & 2016, and finished her career as Nebraska's all-time career digs leader with 1,890.[7] She helped her team win the 2015 NCAA national championship.[7]

U.S. National Team

She played for the United States national team since 2017,[8] winning the Pan American gold medal,[9][10] and the bronze medal at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix.[11]

In May 2021, she was named to the 18-player roster for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League tournament that was played in Rimini, Italy.[12] It was the only major international competition before the Tokyo Olympics in July. She was named the best libero of the tournament after helping Team USA win its third straight gold medal.[13]

On June 7, 2021, U.S. National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced she would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[14] In her Olympic debut, Wong-Orantes led the Olympics in serve reception percentage, on the way to helping the U.S. capture its first-ever gold medal. She was named the best Libero of the Olympics.[1]

Professional clubs

  • Germany Schweriner SC (2019–2020)
  • Germany VC Wiesbaden (2020–2022)
  • France Béziers Volley (2022–present)

International awards

References

  1. 1 2 "'Best Libero' Justine Wong-Orantes 'kept the ball in the air' for Team USA to win first volleyball gold medal". Yahoo! Sports. August 10, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Chatelain: Before Nebraska found Justine Wong-Orantes, she was a beach phenom in L.A. going toe-to-toe with players twice her age". Omaha World Herald. December 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Justine Wong Orantes - Team USA". USA. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Keep digging: Justine Wong-Orantes never gave up on Olympic volleyball dream". LA times. July 27, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Justine Wong-Orantes Bio". Huskers.com. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Husker volleyball freshman in key position to start the season". The Daily Nebraskan. August 29, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Justine Wong-Orantes - Nebraska Roster Bio". University of Nebraska.
  8. ↑ "Justine Wong Orantes". Team USA. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  9. ↑ correspondent, Jeff Sheldon / World-Herald. "NU's Justine Wong-Orantes impresses in international debut, opening possibility of more Team USA opportunities". Omaha.com. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  10. ↑ "2017 Rosters". Team USA. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  11. ↑ "World Grand Prix Group 1 - Team Roster - USA - FIVB World Grand Prix 2017". worldgrandprix.2017.fivb.com. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Kiraly announces 18 USA Volleyball women on FIVB VNL Roster |". May 13, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Triple Triumph! U.S. Women Win 3rd Straight VNL Title". USA Volleyball. June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  14. ↑ "USAV Announces U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team". USA Volleyball. June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
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