FIVB Grand Prix 2010: USA on fire in third round
Yes it is true! United States women’s volleyball team has drawn world-wide attention after their fabulous 3-0 victory in third week of FIVB Grand Prix 2010. The Team USA fully entertained the fans with a dose of excellent volleyball at the weekend.
The teams hit the podium for third-round matches on Friday, 20th August 2010. USA which finished the first round with a very disappointing score of 1-2, made a great come-back in the 2nd week. The team improved itself in a great way and won all three combats. Keeping the same momentum and staying on the winning-track, the team of American musketeers completely dominated the third phase of the championship. They finished 3-0 at the end of third week competitions.
USA’s team was placed in the Group G along with Germany, China and Thailand. The team played its three matches in Hong Kong, China.
The Americans opened the first game with Germany on the starting day of third round. Germany had beaten USA in the first week and it was their second meeting, which provided USA a chance to settle down the conflict. They took advantage of the opportunity and totally blew away the German team after posting 3-0 win.
The team restricted Germany’s performance from the very beginning of the match. The first set started and German defence was scattered due to the powerful spikes of American hitters. USA was able to take a lead and further remained ahead in the game. The first set ended at 25-15 while Germans lost grip of the game. The second set was kicked off with long jump-serves by American players. Germany’s team tried to fight back and struggled to resist American progress. Somehow, the ball favoured USA’s team with nearly always landing in the German court. USA finished the second set with a lead of 6 points.
With a 2-0 head-start, USA was in a very good position to take the game away from Germany. They kept on hitting the intense volleys and line-shots devastated the German cover. With constant failures, Germany was further pushed back and it lost control over the ball. USA benefited from the situation and extended their lead to a winning point 25-13. USA won the match against Germany.
Destinee Hooker was the centre of attention as she topped the podium with a match-high 20 points on 17 kills using 31 attack attempts and three blocks. In addition, Logan Tom also contributed to U.S. victory by eight kills on 18 attacks. She scored 14 points incorporating four blocks and two match-winning aces. Jordan Larson, Foluke Akinradewo and Alisha Glass played their respective roles and rocked the court with a display of amazing volleyball, which earned them a great victory over Germany. Win this particular win, the U.S. attained 15 points and also qualified for the FIVB Grand Prix Final Round to be held in Ningbo, China.
The head coach was bummed out by the overwhelming performance of her team. She expressed hope for the final victory and put a word of confidence about team prospects. She said, “Our team played very well. We were strong in tactics and technical skills. We are making improvement from weekend to weekend. We are very happy with the victory today and it is time to get ready for tomorrow’s match. The team had a strong evolution after the match against Thailand and Italy last week. Thailand is a very challenging team. They are very fast and play with a different system and combination. However, if we play strong tomorrow, we are confident that we will have a good chance to win. Winning Germany in this match is very important for us as Germany still has the chance to get into the finals.”
USA also claimed victory over Thailand and China in the 2nd and 3rd match, respectively.
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