The U.S. women’s volleyball charged with earning the first Olympic title in program history was named Monday, according to TeamUSA.org.
It includes 2012 Olympic silver medalists Jordan Larson, Courtney Thompson, Foluke Akinradewo and Christa Dietzen.
The other eight are first-time Olympians -- Rachael Adams, Kim Hill, Kelsey Robinson, Karsta Lowe, Kelly Murphy, Alisha Glass, Carli Lloyd and Kayla Banwarth.
The U.S. will likely have to go through two-time reigning Olympic champion Brazil to take gold at the Rio Games. It did just that at the world championship in Milan, Italy, in 2014.
But the U.S. lost its final game at the Olympics in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 all to Brazil, including the last two Olympic finals.
“The headwinds will be great in Rio,” Kiraly said after winning the 2014 World title. “Brazil will have the home-court advantage. We love headwinds. Bring ’em on.”
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