U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball team losses to China by 3-1: Continental Cup
The U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball team had a match with China on Friday, July 15, in Kettering, England. The match was a part of the 2011 Continental Cup that is currently taking place. The contest between the two teams lasted for four grueling sets, at
the end of which China turned out to be the winner.
Having lost the first set of the game to the Americans, China did not let the rest of the three sets slip out of their hands. Like the first set, the second set was also a close call but the Americans seemed to lose heart in the third set that led to a comfortable
win by the Chinese. The U.S. squad tried to step up their game in the fourth set to bring the match to a deciding fifth but China did not let the plans of the Americans succeed and bagged the fourth set of the game to earn themselves a match win at: 22-25,
25-21, 25-11, 25-14.
Despite the fact that the Americans squad was playing with two of their main players missing, they put up a commendable effort. Charlie Swearingen was acting as the captain instead of Brent Rasmussen and Edgar Laforest was also unavailable because he was
suffering from a femur fracture.
The head coach of the U.S team, Edgar Miraku, made the following comments after his team had lost the match: “Of course as a team we are a little down and frustrated about our performance today. But it is important to remember that we were playing with a
new lineup and the team did its best to adjust in the new roles that players were put in. China is a good team with a fast offense. We came out playing really well, which they adjusted to. We then started to lose the steam we had going in.”
The first set of the match went well for the Americans as they were able to outperform their rivals in several areas. The U.S. team was able to tally six blocks while the Chinese registered only one. Other than that, the Americans also scored on two aces
whereas the Chinese could not manage even one in the first set of the match.
The player that stood prominent on the U.S line up was Eric Duda, having scored 13 points for his team over all.
Next in line for the U.S squad is a match against the host team of England later today. The contest will decide the team that will get the seventh position in the tournament. After their recent loss, the U.S team has registered three losses with an equal
amount of wins whereas Great Britain has suffered five losses and winning only two matches so far.
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