Former Nebraska All-Americans Jordan Larson, Justine Wong-Orantes and Kelsey Robinson became Olympic gold medalists Sunday as the United States defeated Brazil 3-0 in the final match of the 2020 Tokyo Games at Ariake Arena.
Larson captained Team USA to a dominant run and became the first American woman to claim gold (Tokyo 2020), silver (London 2012) and bronze (Rio 2016) medals in indoor volleyball alongside three-time Olympic teammate Foluke Akinradewo. The Hooper, Neb., native finished with 12 kills, which was the second-most in the match, alongside five digs. Wong-Orantes posted seven digs in the sweep.
Larson had six kills in the opening set as the U.S. won 25-21. The Americans followed with a second-set victory at 25-20 and finished it off at 25-14 in the third. Larson put down the final kill to seal the historic win for Team USA, which swept all nine sets in the knockout stage.
Larson, who was a three-time All-American at Nebraska while lettering from 2005-08, competed in her third straight Olympics. Robinson, an All-American at NU in 2013, was also a member of the bronze-medal winning team in 2016, while two-time All-American Wong-Orantes (2013-16) made her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
The trio was part of a group of five Huskers with ties to indoor and beach competition at the 2020 Games. Earlier in the week, four-time All-American Sarah Pavan competed in her second consecutive Olympics in beach volleyball and entered the Games as the No. 1-ranked pair in the world with partner Melissa Humana-Paredes. Nebraska Associate Head Coach Tyler Hildebrand served as the USA Volleyball Director of Coaching for the American beach national teams, which included gold medalists April Ross and Alix Klineman.
