The FIVB Grand Prix 2010 - a great comeback for USA
The FIVB Grand Prix Women’s Volleyball Championship jump-started with the first match on 13th August, which was played between the teams from United States and Italy. The beautiful city of Bangkok hosted the second round matches of the championship. Teams from Italy, United States, Thailand and Puerto Rico played their second-round matches at Bangkok, Thailand.
The United State’s team couldn’t exhibit a great performance in the first-preliminary round as they lost matches to Germany and Poland, respectively. But the fired-up American team was desperately waiting for the start of second round and they made a major blow to see off Italy in the first match. They posted a 3-1 victory over Italy and attained 6th-place in the World Grand Prix standings by pushing Italians one step down.
The American team captured victory after a gruelling battle with strong Italian team. The USA players opened the game and focused on the mid-court defence. Logan Tom, Heather Bown and Stacy Sykora handled the opponents’ spikes with a remarkable effort and saved crucial points. In addition, the team put a collective effort, which earned them a lead in the early minutes of the game.
The two-time European champion, Italy promptly reacted and hit back to level the points. The Italian Serena Ortolani started the flare-shots and created difficulty for the American defence in order to block the court-cracking spikes. Serena Ortolani of Italy proved to be the perfect remedy of American top-spiker Logan Tom. Italy continued to attack with influential spikes, which devastated the American defence. The American concentrated more on defence and tried to avoid any reception-errors. Anyhow, Italian Piccinini added more fury to the scene and hit un-stoppable spikes which took away the game from Americans. The first set ended in the support of Italy.
The second set started with an aggressive tone. The USA’s team gathered all its strength to turn the set in their favour. Logan Tom produced cruising line-shots which helped them rise their score against Italy. In the meanwhile, USA was able push the score to 22-20 and claimed a narrow lead of 2 points. Nonetheless, Italian equalled the points at 24-24 with hitting deadly spikes. The American team continued their struggle and didn’t overcome by the pressure. With their strenuous endeavour, the Americans won the second set by posting 26-24.
The game entered in more decisive third set where both teams tried to take lead. The early phase was dominated by USA but Italy regained the control in latter half of the set and tied the game at 22-22. In the hour of need, Tom did justice to her team and finished the game with a back-court hit to obtain 24-22 win over Italians.
The triumph in the third set restored American players’ energy and filled them with a thrilling sensation to maintain their lead in the game. On the other hand, Italy was dragged under immense pressure and the potential risk of losing the game constantly accompanied them. It slowed down their performance in the fourth-set and they were shaken by powerful serves and spikes of American team. As a result, USA attained a commanding position in the game and took a lead of 7 points. Afterwards, they maintained the lead and paved their way to the final victory.
The Brilliant win in the starting match earned them good reputation and set a clear direction for the American team to win their next matches.
Lo and behold!
The American team defeated the host Thailand in the next match of second round. They played their last match of second round with Puerto Rico and repeated the same performance. The team is proud to claim victory in all three matches of second round.
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