Ava Falduto To Represent USA Volleyball At U19 World Championship

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

Penn State women’s volleyball commit Ava Falduto made USA’s 12-player roster for the 2023 FIVB U19 World Championship August 1-11 in Osijek, Croatia, and Szeged, Hungary.

Falduto and fellow Penn State commit Izzy Starck, both members of the 2024 recruiting class who plan to enroll early at the university in January, helped the U.S. go 5-0 and win gold at the 2023 NORCECA U19 Pan American Cup last May in Puerto Rico. Falduto was named Best Receiver.

“My experience in Puerto Rico was surreal,” Falduto said. “I could not have asked for a better trip as my first time representing USA. It was definitely a complete experience, as we got to see different parts and cultures of Puerto Rico and the other countries we competed against.”

Starck is one of seven alternates for the U19 World Championship, which features 24 teams, as U.S. head coach Jamie Morrison of Texas A&M volleyball selected Wisconsin commit Charlie Fuerbringer and Nebraska commit Campbell Flynn as his two setters for the event. Starck already won two U19 Pan American Cup gold medals and has been a regular contributor for the U.S. youth national team.

Falduto was the only libero selected for the U19 Pan American Cup team, but Nebraska libero commit Olivia Mauch will join Falduto at the U19 World Championship. It will be interesting to see whether Morrison and his staff rotate at the position early in the tournament or whether they pick someone to start every match.

The U.S. begins preliminary-round play on August 1 at 9 a.m. ET against Korea. The U.S. plays Japan the following day and Mexico the day after that. After a rest day, the U.S. will play Poland and Serbia in consecutive days to determine whether they advance to the round of 16.

“In my three years, this is probably the most physical version of this team that we have had,” Morrison said in a press release. “I think that’s one of the strengths. I think it shows up in the block and defense quite a bit. This group has done an amazing job of becoming a team in a short amount of time.”

Falduto and Starck were among 19 athletes invited to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center July 21-29 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they showed the coaching staff what they can do and did some hiking during their downtime.

Although the roster has yet to be announced for the 2023 FIVB U21 World Championship August 17-26 in Mexico, Falduto and Starck can be considered for the event, which may have some crossover between the two U.S. teams. Falduto discussed what she thought led to her team’s success in Puerto Rico when we caught up with her and Starck in May.

“I think our team did particularly well serving and blocking this tournament,” Falduto said. “It was difficult for teams to stay in system because of our aggressive serving. We also did not let teams go on runs against us and we stayed in control of the game.”

Ava Falduto passes a ball during Penn State volleyball’s second annual 7 Star Camp June 11 at Rec Hall.

Falduto verbally committed to the Nittany Lions on June 19, 2022, two days before Starck joined her as a member of Penn State’s 2024 recruiting class. They remain the only commits for the Nittany Lions that cycle, but are considered arguably the best players at their respective positions of libero and setter in their class.

Falduto and Starck will represent the Nittany Lions at the Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match in Orlando, Florida, later this year before enrolling at Penn State shortly after the prestigious exhibition. Falduto earned her invite to the event with a strong showing at the UA Next Chicago camp on July 7, while Starck punched her ticket on March 3 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Falduto and Starck recently wrapped up their final club volleyball seasons this spring with 1st Alliance VBC and the Colorado Juniors, respectively. Falduto had previously represented New WAVE before transferring clubs for her last season. The Elmhurst, Illinois, native led IC Catholic Prep to a 2A state runner-up finish last fall and hopes to bring home a championship with the Knights as a senior.

Falduto played outside hitter for her high school team as a junior and finished with the second-most kills in a single season in program history with 466. She averaged 5.9 kills per set last fall — also good for second place in the Knights’ record books.

You can read our in-depth interview with Falduto following Penn State’s 3-1 win over UCF in the second round of the NCAA tournament last December at Rec Hall here, where Falduto discussed her Olympic ambitions and a host of other topics.

“It’s a dream,” Falduto said. “I have a flag in my room, and I look at it every single day since fourth grade. I want to be on the Olympic team one day. That’s just my No. 1 goal.”