Simone Lee-Wank is an American outside hitter whose career has moved through NCAA championship volleyball, several of Europe’s major professional leagues, Japan’s V.League and Brazil’s Superliga. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1996, she developed into an All-American at Penn State before beginning her professional career with Imoco Volley Conegliano. She stands 186 cm tall in current international listings and combines high-volume attacking with a meaningful role in serve reception and back-row defense.
Lee-Wank has also built a second chapter with the United States Women’s National Team. After making her senior debut at the 2018 Pan American Cup, she became MVP of the 2023 Pan Am Cup Final Six and returned to a prominent U.S. role in 2026, appearing throughout the Volleyball Nations League before earning First Best Spiker at the NORCECA Continental Championship. At club level, her move to Sesc RJ Flamengo produced one of the strongest statistical seasons of her career: she led the 2025–26 Brazilian Superliga with 525 points and was selected as one of the competition’s best outside hitters.
Player Information
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Simone Lee-Wank |
| Date of Birth | October 7, 1996 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Born | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
| College | Penn State University |
| Position | Outside hitter |
| Height | 186 cm (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 70 kg |
| Spike Reach | 307 cm |
| Block Reach | 292 cm |
| Previous Clubs | Imoco Volley Conegliano; Beylikdüzü Voleybol İhtisas; Kurobe AquaFairies; Allianz MTV Stuttgart; Sarıyer Belediyesi; Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore; Megabox Ondulati del Savio Vallefoglia |
| Current Club | Sesc RJ Flamengo |
| Club Number | 2 |
| National Team | United States Women’s National Volleyball Team |
| National-Team Number | 10 |
USA Volleyball lists Lee-Wank as a 6-foot-1 outside hitter wearing No. 10 for the U.S. Women’s National Team, while the current Volleyball World profile lists her at 186 cm. A CEV roster from her European career records 70 kg, a 307 cm spike reach and a 292 cm block reach. Her current Brazilian registration uses No. 2 for Sesc RJ Flamengo.
Early Life & Volleyball Beginnings
Lee-Wank was born Simone Alexandra Lee on October 7, 1996, in Milwaukee and grew up in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Volleyball was not initially the only sport competing for her attention. As a young athlete she spent considerable time playing basketball, but volleyball became increasingly important after she joined the sport around age 12 in Wisconsin.
Her development accelerated quickly. At Menomonee Falls, Lee became a four-year varsity starter and two-year captain, helped the program win a WIAA state championship and earned all-state recognition. Club volleyball with Club Fusion added another competitive layer, while her early USA Volleyball pathway included the 2012 and 2013 U.S. Girls’ Youth National Teams. Those teams won the 2012 NORCECA U18 Continental Championship and finished second at the 2013 FIVB Girls’ U18 World Championship. Penn State’s player biography also records her as the 2013 Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year and a high-school All-American.
Lee arrived at Penn State in 2014 and immediately became part of a national championship program. Although her freshman role was more limited than the one she would later command, she contributed during the NCAA Tournament as the Nittany Lions captured the 2014 national title. Over the following three seasons, her attacking responsibility expanded dramatically.
The statistical jump was particularly visible as an upperclassman. In October 2016, Lee delivered a career-high 30 kills at a .333 hitting percentage as No. 15 Penn State defeated top-ranked Minnesota in five sets. It was Penn State’s first 30-kill performance by a player in more than nine years and provided an early example of the volume she could handle against elite opposition.
By her senior season, Lee was one of the central figures in Penn State’s offense. She was named the 2017 Big Ten Player of the Year after averaging 3.93 kills per set and hitting .324 during the regular-season awards period. Her collegiate résumé also included consecutive AVCA First Team All-America selections in 2016 and 2017.
Club Career
From Penn State to Italy and Türkiye
Lee moved almost immediately from college volleyball into the European professional game. In January 2018, Imoco Volley Conegliano introduced the 21-year-old American as a new outside hitter, giving her No. 4 and bringing her directly into one of Italy’s strongest clubs. She joined during the 2017–18 season and finished that first professional campaign as an Italian league champion.
The next stage took her to Türkiye with Beylikdüzü Voleybol İhtisas. Her scoring role expanded substantially there. USA Volleyball’s professional updates from the period recorded several 20-plus-point performances, illustrating a pattern that would follow her through later stops: Lee was often most valuable when entrusted with a large share of the left-side attack rather than used only as a complementary outside hitter.
Japan, Stuttgart and a championship run in Germany
Lee joined Kurobe AquaFairies in Japan for the 2019–20 season, where her workload became especially demanding. In the opening months of that campaign she repeatedly took 50 or more swings in a match; one October stretch included 31 points against Toray, while a January 2020 playoff victory over PFU BlueCats saw her produce 39 points on 36 kills and three blocks.
Her first spell with Allianz MTV Stuttgart followed during the disrupted 2019–20 European season, before she returned to Kurobe for 2020–21. She then rejoined Stuttgart for a more substantial period beginning in 2021, and those two seasons delivered some of the biggest club honors of her career.
Stuttgart won the 2022 DVV-Pokal with a 3–0 victory over Dresdner SC, and the Volleyball Bundesliga’s account of the final specifically highlighted Lee among the standout performers. The team then completed the domestic double by winning the 2022 German championship, defeating SC Potsdam in the decisive fifth match of the final series.
Stuttgart successfully defended its Bundesliga title in 2023. Lee therefore left Germany with two consecutive league championships in addition to the 2022 national cup, giving her a major winning period between the more scoring-heavy assignments that characterized other stages of her professional career.
Back to Türkiye and Italy
Lee began the 2023–24 campaign with Sarıyer Belediyesi in Türkiye before returning to Italy with Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore in November 2023. That mid-season move proved productive. When Megabox Vallefoglia signed her for the following year, the club credited Lee with 15.6 points per match and 43.1% attacking during her time at Casalmaggiore.
She spent 2024–25 with Vallefoglia, wearing No. 22 in Serie A1. The season extended an Italian connection that had begun with Conegliano seven years earlier, but her next move opened an entirely new stage of her career.
Becoming a leading scorer in Brazil
Lee joined Sesc RJ Flamengo for 2025–26 and quickly became one of the Brazilian Superliga’s most productive attackers. Flamengo renewed her contract in February 2026, announcing the extension while she was leading the league in scoring during her first Brazilian season.
By the completion of the competition, the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation’s official statistics had Lee-Wank at 525 points, the highest total in the 2025–26 women’s Superliga. She also finished second in total aces with 27 and was selected as one of the season’s best outside hitters when the league awards were presented after the final.
Her stay in Rio continued into 2026–27. Before the Superliga began, Sesc RJ Flamengo won the Copa SuperVôlei, with Lee contributing 17 points in the five-set final against Dentil Praia Clube. The club then won the 2026 Campeonato Carioca, where Lee scored a match-high 20 points in the championship match against Fluminense and was named tournament MVP.
Club Career Timeline
| Seasons | Team | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Imoco Volley Conegliano | Italy |
| 2018–19 | Beylikdüzü Voleybol İhtisas | Türkiye |
| 2019–20 | Kurobe AquaFairies | Japan |
| 2020 | Allianz MTV Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2020–21 | Kurobe AquaFairies | Japan |
| 2021–23 | Allianz MTV Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2023 | Sarıyer Belediyesi | Türkiye |
| 2023–24 | Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore | Italy |
| 2024–25 | Megabox Ondulati del Savio Vallefoglia | Italy |
| 2025–present | Sesc RJ Flamengo | Brazil |
The timeline reflects a professional career that has taken Lee-Wank through five major volleyball markets. Her repeated moves between high-volume scoring roles and title-contending teams have given her experience in markedly different systems, from Japan’s demanding rally structure to Italy’s tactical league environment and the physical, serve-driven style of the Brazilian Superliga.
National Team Career
Lee-Wank’s relationship with USA Volleyball began well before her senior career. She played on the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team in 2012 and 2013, winning NORCECA U18 gold in 2012 and an FIVB U18 World Championship silver medal the following year. Her senior U.S. debut came at the 2018 Pan American Cup, where the United States won gold. She later appeared during the 2019 Volleyball Nations League season and was part of the U.S. team that won the 2019 NORCECA Champions Cup.
A particularly important international stretch arrived in 2023. The United States took bronze at the Pan American Cup, and Lee earned First Best Spiker recognition. At the Pan Am Cup Final Six later that summer, she moved from an award-winning contributor to the tournament’s defining player. The U.S. went undefeated and defeated host Dominican Republic 3–1 in the final; Lee finished that match with 29 points on 26 kills and three blocks, along with 19 successful receptions and six digs. She was named tournament MVP and Best Attacker.
Lee-Wank returned to the highest level of the U.S. program in 2026. She was selected for all three preliminary weeks of the Volleyball Nations League and remained on the roster for the VNL Finals in China. Volleyball World recorded 77 points across her 2026 VNL appearances: 68 from attack, four from blocking and five from serve, with a 45.33% attacking efficiency.
The summer concluded with another individual international award. The United States reached the final of the 2026 NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship and finished with silver after a five-set loss to Canada. Lee-Wank was selected as First Best Spiker, reinforcing her place among the U.S. team’s most productive outside hitters during the season.
Playing Style & Strengths
Lee-Wank’s clearest on-court identity is that of a high-volume outside hitter who can remain productive when the offense asks her to take a large number of swings. That quality appeared during her college career, became even more pronounced during her seasons in Japan and has remained visible in Brazil. Her 525-point 2025–26 Superliga campaign is the strongest recent statistical example: no player in the league finished with more points.
Her attack is built around physicality and the ability to score from both structured and less-than-perfect situations. At 186 cm with a documented 307 cm spike reach, she does not rely on exceptional height for the position; instead, much of her effectiveness comes from explosive elevation, a strong arm and the capacity to keep taking high-volume swings over the course of a match. The 39-point performance for Kurobe in 2020—36 kills from 79 attempts, including 12 back-row kills—was an extreme example of how heavily an offense can lean on her.
Serving is another meaningful part of her profile rather than an incidental skill. In the 2025–26 Superliga, Lee-Wank finished with 27 aces, second in the CBV’s final total-aces ranking. That serve pressure complements her scoring because it gives her a way to affect sets even before transitioning to the front row.
She is also more than a front-row terminal attacker. International performances show reception and defensive involvement alongside her point production. In the 2023 Pan Am Cup Final Six title match, for example, she combined 29 points with 19 successful receptions and six digs. Those numbers support a six-rotation interpretation of her role: her greatest value comes when she can carry a significant scoring load without being removed from the wider responsibilities of an outside hitter.
Major Achievements
Selected Club Honors
| Year / Season | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Italian Serie A1 — Imoco Volley Conegliano | Champion |
| 2021–22 | German Bundesliga — Allianz MTV Stuttgart | Champion |
| 2022 | DVV-Pokal — Allianz MTV Stuttgart | Champion |
| 2022–23 | German Bundesliga — Allianz MTV Stuttgart | Champion |
| 2026 | Copa SuperVôlei — Sesc RJ Flamengo | Champion |
| 2026 | Campeonato Carioca — Sesc RJ Flamengo | Champion |
Lee-Wank’s Stuttgart period produced three major domestic trophies across two seasons, including the Bundesliga–DVV-Pokal double in 2022 and another German championship in 2023. Her 2026–27 club season in Brazil then began with two trophies before the national league schedule was underway.
Selected National Team Honors
| Year | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | NORCECA Girls U18 Continental Championship | Gold |
| 2013 | FIVB Girls U18 World Championship | Silver |
| 2018 | Pan American Cup | Gold |
| 2019 | NORCECA Champions Cup | Gold |
| 2023 | Pan American Cup | Bronze |
| 2023 | Pan Am Cup Final Six | Gold |
| 2026 | NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship | Silver |
USA Volleyball’s current athlete record includes all seven of those podium finishes across youth and senior international competition.
Selected Individual Awards
| Year / Season | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Wisconsin high-school volleyball | Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year |
| 2016 | NCAA / AVCA | First Team All-American |
| 2017 | NCAA / AVCA | First Team All-American |
| 2017 | Big Ten | Player of the Year |
| 2023 | Pan American Cup | First Best Spiker |
| 2023 | Pan Am Cup Final Six | MVP and Best Attacker |
| 2025–26 | Brazilian Superliga | Best Outside Hitter |
| 2025–26 | Brazilian Superliga | League scoring leader — 525 points |
| 2026 | NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship | First Best Spiker |
| 2026 | Campeonato Carioca | MVP |
The range of those honors is notable. Lee-Wank has received major recognition in the NCAA, with the United States national team and in Brazilian club volleyball, while her scoring title in the 2025–26 Superliga provides a quantitative peak to complement the award record.
Personal Life & Off-Court Interests
Lee-Wank comes from an athletic family. USA Volleyball identifies her parents as Arthur and Karen Lee and notes that her mother was a student-athlete at Drake University. Her sister, Chelsea, also played collegiate volleyball at Eastern Illinois. Volleyball entered Simone’s life partly through that family connection: she initially joined a team after her sister’s club needed another player, an opportunity that helped turn a relatively late start in the sport into an elite pathway.
At Penn State, Lee studied broadcast journalism and minored in African American Studies. In a Penn State feature during her college years, she spoke about an interest in using both her communications education and sports background in broadcasting, giving her academic work a direct connection to life beyond playing.
She is married to German professional basketball player Lukas Wank. Their professional careers became directly connected in 2025 when Wank left Würzburg after deciding to accompany his wife to Brazil as she joined Sesc RJ Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro. Würzburg Baskets publicly described the move when announcing his departure from the club.
Where Is Simone Lee-Wank Playing Now?
As of October 2026, Simone Lee-Wank is in her second season with Sesc RJ Flamengo in Brazil. Flamengo confirmed her extension in February and included her among its retained outside hitters for the 2026–27 roster. She wears No. 2 in the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation’s current registration.
Her new season has begun with both trophies and immediate Superliga production. Flamengo won the Copa SuperVôlei in September and the Campeonato Carioca in October, with Lee named Carioca MVP. In the opening round of the 2026–27 Superliga on October 19, she led all scorers with 16 points—15 attacks and one ace—in a 3–0 victory over Paulistano Barueri. Flamengo then swept Brasília on October 23 to move to two wins from two matches.
Internationally, Lee-Wank remains part of the United States Women’s National Team after a full 2026 season that included all three VNL preliminary weeks, the VNL Finals and the NORCECA Continental Championship. USA Volleyball currently lists her as No. 10.
Recent Performance Snapshot
| Period | Team / Competition | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Sesc RJ Flamengo — Brazilian Superliga | 525 points; league scoring leader |
| 2025–26 | Sesc RJ Flamengo — Brazilian Superliga | 27 aces; second in final ace ranking |
| 2025–26 | Brazilian Superliga | Selected Best Outside Hitter |
| 2026 | USA — Volleyball Nations League | 77 points: 68 attacks, 4 blocks, 5 aces; 45.33% attack efficiency |
| August 2026 | USA — NORCECA Continental Championship | Silver medal; First Best Spiker |
| September 2026 | Sesc RJ Flamengo — Copa SuperVôlei | Champion; 17 points in final |
| October 2026 | Sesc RJ Flamengo — Campeonato Carioca | Champion; tournament MVP; 20 points in final |
| Through October 23, 2026 | Sesc RJ Flamengo — 2026–27 Superliga | 2–0 team record; 23 attack points and 2 aces for Lee-Wank |
The early 2026–27 CBV numbers are necessarily a small sample, but they continue the same broader pattern established the previous season: Lee-Wank is being used as a primary scoring outside hitter while remaining involved in serve reception. The CBV listed Sesc RJ Flamengo first after two matches with six points and recorded Lee-Wank with 25 scoring actions—23 kills and two aces—alongside 50% reception efficiency at that stage.
References
- USA Volleyball — Simone Lee-Wank Athlete Profile
- Volleyball World — Simone Lee-Wank, VNL 2026 Player Profile and Statistics
- Penn State Athletics — Simone Lee 2017 Player Biography
- Penn State Athletics — No. 15 Penn State Defeats No. 1 Minnesota in Five Sets
- Penn State Athletics — 2017 Big Ten Postseason Honors
- Penn State Athletics — Washington and Lee Named Senior CLASS Award Candidates
- Imoco Volley Conegliano — Simone Lee Arrives at Imoco Volley
- Lega Pallavolo Serie A Femminile / Megabox — Simone Lee Joins Vallefoglia
- USA Volleyball — U.S. Women Beginning Overseas Pro Seasons
- USA Volleyball — Lee’s 39-Point Match with Kurobe AquaFairies
- Volleyball Bundesliga — Stuttgart Wins the 2022 DVV-Pokal
- Volleyball Bundesliga — Stuttgart Wins the 2022 German Championship
- Volleyball Bundesliga — Stuttgart Defends the German Championship in 2023
- USA Volleyball — U.S. Women Win the 2023 Pan Am Cup Final Six
- NORCECA — 2026 Women’s Continental Championship Individual Awards
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — 2025–26 Superliga Scoring Rankings
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — 2025–26 Superliga Official Statistics
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — 2025–26 Superliga Final and Individual Awards
- Sesc RJ Flamengo — Simone Lee Renews for Another Season
- Sesc RJ Flamengo — 2026–27 Roster Announcement
- Sesc RJ Flamengo — 2026 Copa SuperVôlei Championship
- Sesc RJ Flamengo — 2026 Campeonato Carioca Championship and Simone Lee MVP
- Sesc RJ Flamengo — 2026–27 Superliga Opening Win over Paulistano Barueri
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — Sesc RJ Flamengo 2026–27 Team and Player Statistics
- Würzburg Baskets — Lukas Wank Departure and Move to Brazil with Simone Lee-Wank
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — 2025–26 Superliga Official Statistics
