Justine Wong-Orantes has become the 5’6 underdog helping Team USA earn Olympic gold.
Justine Wong-Orantes was born to be one of the world’s top liberos. Her parents, Winnie Wong and Robert Orantes, both played and coached volleyball. We can truly say volleyball was in Justine’s blood from the very start.
Justine was born in October 1995 in Torrance, California and she first became an accomplished beach volleyball player. When she was only 12 years old, she was the first female to earn a AAA rating in California Beach Volleyball. She was playing club volleyball at Mizuno Long Beach, where her father also was coaching and led her 16-U team to a Junior Olympics national championship.
Her career became even more real when she enrolled at Los Alamitos High School. During her senior year, Justine played in 91 sets, earning 53 service aces, 222 digs, 67 kills, and went 10-0 in their league.
Being only 5 ‘6, Justine was not heavily recruited, but during a high school club tournament she was noticed by John Cook, the University of Nebraska’s head coach. He saw Justine’s potential and she ended up committing to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the nation’s best college volleyball team. Here, she racked up real stats.
She was a big part of Nebraska’s 2015 NCAA National Championship win, two time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, 2x AVCA All American, and finished her collegiate career as the Cornhusker’s all time leader in digs with 1,890.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in child, youth, and family studies, Justine joined the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2017 where she won a gold medal at the Pan-American Volleyball Cup. She earned the title of best libero during the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Tournament after Team USA won their third straight gold medal.
Justine was announced as part of the Olympic roster for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She helped the U.S. win their first gold medal in Women’s Volleyball and led the games in serve reception percentage. She was also a part of the 2024 Paris Olympics team when the U.S. won silver.
Today Justine is still playing volleyball at LOVB Omaha and is currently a strong candidate for the 2028 Olympic Team. She continues to inspire young Asian-American athletes around the world, proving that greatness in volleyball is not always defined by height.
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