U.S. Women’s Team grab third to qualify for Olympic berth – Volleyball news
The USA Women’s National Volleyball team went up against Japan in the final showdown of the 2011 FIVB World Cup, which completed its length from November 4 to 18 in Japan. The American team put up a great fight but failed to climb to the top slot. Host Japan
won the match (29-27, 25-23, 25-18) and dismissed the Americans.
The US squad staged a great battle with the hosts and gave out a spectacular performance. Nonetheless, Japan was equipped with the stupendous support of local fans, which proved to be a competitive edge for them. The U.S. team remained remarkably consistent
in fighting the challenge but fell short with narrow margins in all three sets of the match.
U.S. team settled for second position and got hold of the silver medal. This year, the FIVB World Cup had an extra feature as it also offered Olympic tickets to the top three teams of the competition. The American team dropped the final match but qualified
to play at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Top three teams – Italy, USA, and Japan –reserved berths for the Olympic Games, which will be held in summer, 2012.
The U.S. Head Coach, Hugh McCutcheon, expressed delight on winning the Olympic spot through FIVB World Cup. In his post-match comments, he said: "Japan played well, certainly in the last half of the tournament; they've improved. The most important thing
was to gain qualification and we've done that."
American Women appeared in 11 matches and finished the tournament with loss of only two matches, which is pretty impressive. It was the highest finished by any American team at the FIVB World Cup competition. Previously, U.S. team finished with the bronze
medals at the World Cup in 2003 and 2007.
Quite recently, the U.S. Women’s National Team was honoured with the title of “Olympic Athletes of the Week”. Following a great achievement at the FIVB World Cup, the team is ranked first in the world according to the Federation International de Volleyball
(FIVB). This is the first time in four years that the U.S. Women has surpassed Brazil on the ranking chart.
On the whole, the year 2011 brought a lot of success for the U.S. Women’s national volleyball team. They finished the season with a 39-10 record, FIVB World Grand Prix and NORCECA Continental Championship Titles, second-place finish at the FIVB World Cup
and bronze medals at the Pan American Cup and Pan American Games. U.S. team deserved to win the qualification for Olympic Games and they did it quite efficiently.
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