Ariana Rodríguez Fung (born 3 November 2005) is a Dominican Republic volleyball player who played the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Personal life
Rodríguez is 14 cm (6 in) tall 67 kilograms (148 lb), born on 3 November 2005, in New York City, United States. Her parents are Dominican Elvis Rodríguez, who played volleyball professionally for seven years in Switzerland, former AVP player, Dominican national team member and coach and Dominican Chinese Suquin Fung, collegiate and Dominican League volleyball player and coach.[1][2] She went to Poly Prep Country Day School in New York, winning two NYSAIS championships, first team, all-league and Most Valuable Player and is studying at University of Miami.[3][4]
She won with the Dominican Republic the U19 Pan American Cup bronze medal and the Best server award.[7]
2023
Playing with her national Youth team, she played the U19 Pan American Cup where her team finished in fifth place[8] and she was selected Best scorer and Best Server.[9] At the U21 Pan-American Cup held in Nogales, Mexico, she played as an opposite, even though her team lost the bronze medal to Cuba,[10] she was awarded the Best Opposite.[11] She was among the preliminary roster for the Nations League, but never make it to the main team.[12]
Rodríguez won the gold medal at the U23 Pan-American Cup winning the Best Setter and Most Valuable Player awards.[13] In August, she played the U19 World Championship and help her national team to rank in 13th place with a 29 points match.[14][15] While she was playing as an outside hitter instead of her usual role of setter, she received the call to play with her Senior National Team for the upcoming Olympic qualifier.[16] She was part of the team that played[17] the Olympic Qualification Tournament where her team won a birth for the 2024 Summer Olympics after winning the Pool A[18] and qualifying for the fourth time to the Olympics.[19]
2024
She traveled to Brazil to take part of the Nations League.[20][21] Her team ended with a 2–9 mark and did not qualify for the final round.[22][23] She then played at the NORCECA U21 Volleyball Continental Championship and helped her team to win the bronze medal and was awarded tournament's Best Server.[24] She confessed that she was living an olympic dream, when she joined her national team at the 2024 Summer Olympics, when the Dominican Republic finished eight, losing 0–3 to Brazil in the quarterfinals.[25]
