Schwarzenbach Doubles Up on Gold Medals with the United States National Team

Two months ago, Callie Schwarzenbach was making plans for a normal fall. She was ramping up her training sessions and planning to attend a mini-camp with her professional team in September. 

However, after a call from United States coach Erik Sullivan in mid-August, those plans went out the window. The former Husker earned her first call-up to the senior national team and now has two gold medals after helping the U.S. win the NORCECA Pan American Cup and Final Six tournaments. 

After her first season with LOVB Madison, Schwarzenbach talked to Sullivan about serving as a practice player. She knew about the national team’s depth at middle blocker, but was open to getting any training time with the other elite Americans. When he called, he offered more than practice time and wanted her to try out for the two tournaments in September. 

“I was like, ‘Sure, count me in,” Schwarzenbach said. “He’s like, ‘Oh, you don’t need to think about it?’ I was like, ‘No, I’ll be there.’ It worked out well.”

After training with the national team for a few weeks, Schwarzenbach felt good about her chances of making the tournament roster, but wasn’t taking anything for granted until the final roster was settled.

“I had an inkling that I would make it — all the middles there would make it — but still I wanted to see it, and wanted to make sure it was actually happening,” she said. “So when we got the roster, I was like, ‘Okay, this is real.’ We’re doing that.”

The group trained together for only two weeks in Anaheim, California, until the PanAm Cup started on Sept. 11, which felt like a short time. However, she connected well with her setters — Rachel Fairbanks and Ella Powell and earned lots of playing time at middle blocker (despite the roster listing her as an outside hitter). 

“My mindset was just different and going in and having fun and contributing as much as I could, and that led to just a more efficient environment for me,” Schwarzenbach said.

Schwarzenbach played in three of the four pool play matches in the PanAm Cup, posting nine kills and six blocks. 

However, once the medal rounds hit, she raised her game. The 6-foot-5 middle blocker tied for the team lead in points with 13 in the semifinal against Canada on 10 kills and three blocks on a .642 hitting percentage. In the final, she bettered that with 12 kills and 3 blocks, leading the US in points in a sweep over the Dominican Republic. 

After a day off and a four-hour bus ride from Leon to Zinacantepec, the work continued at the NORCECA Final Six Tournament. After sitting out the pool-play match against Canada, Schwarzenbach put up eight kills and five blocks against Cuba. After another off day, she led the United States with 19 points against Mexico on 15 kills and four blocks. 

The United States faced Cuba again in the semifinals and Schwarzenbach led the team with 12 kills, three blocks and two aces. In the gold medal match, she finished with eight points on five kills, two aces and a block. 

Even though Schwarzenbach appeared in four of the seven matches, she finished ninth overall in scoring with 57 total points and fourth with 0.52 blocks per set. Because she wasn’t expecting to play with the national team, she approached the tournament differently and posted good numbers. 

She said she was glad with how the two tournaments ended for her, both personally and as a team. She learned a lot training with other elite athletes and had a lot of fun. Because the two tournaments were over consecutive weeks, she didn’t get a chance to enjoy the first medal much, but she loved the whole experience.

“To be able to experience that together was really unique, and I’m just really grateful,” Schwarzenbach said. “It was a big surprise to me to get that call to begin with, and to not only get the call but to be successful with them was very rewarding.”

Schwarzenbach said she evolved her game from her time at Nebraska, where she was more of a defensive presence. She best averaged 1.24 kills per set as a sophomore and hit .291 as a freshman. (She eclipsed both during her fifth year at Long Beach State with 1.76 kills per set at a .298 clip.) Meanwhile, her career-best 1.33 blocks per set came as a freshman, and her career mark of 1.22 blocks per set ranks fifth on Nebraska’s all-time rally-scoring list. 

“I’ve been known as a middle blocker, not necessarily an attacker, for most of my career,” she said. “I wanted to be better in the middle, attacking-wise, but it just didn’t feel like I needed to in a way. My good was good enough. I would love to get set the ball more, so I got to be better at putting it away.”

After her rookie year in Puerto Rico, Schwarzenbach played her next two years in Brazil with Osasco in São Paulo and helped the team win the Brazilian Super League and Brazilian Cup in 2025. Then, she signed with League One and was assigned to the Madison team. 

Last year, Schwarzebach changed up her off-season training and began working out with other Kansas City natives Audriana Fitzmorris and Jenna Gray. During one session, they worked with long-time coach Joe Maloney, and she immediately noticed the results in her attacking technique and footwork. 

“Within that one practice, I had seen so much improvement, and it was only an hour,” she said. “I was like, ‘I need to get your number. We need to work together.’ It was really eye-opening for me, and he has a different outlook on some things which might be different than the average coach, but it works for me.”

The new approach paid off as she was named League One’s Offensive Player of the Week. Schwarzenbach kept up her defensive work and finished fourth in the league in blocks with 41. 

After a month with the national team, Schwarzenbach is ready to return to training with Madison — eventually. After playing volleyball 20 days during the past month, she was excused from a training camp last week. However, she is looking forward to returning to the practice gym with her teammates, including outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara and libero Elena Oglivie, who were also on the national team. 

After waiting so long to make her debut with the national team, Schwarzenbach hopes to use the experience to springboard into the professional season and perhaps play more for the United States in the future. 

“Now that (I know) I’m capable, it makes me a little bit more hungry to go back,” Schwarzenbach said. “Hopefully (I can) continue to grow and strive for VNL or something like that would be amazing. I will also take away what I’ve learned from that group of coaches in such a short amount of time, and apply that to LOVB and my future and continue to grow in those ways as well.”