U.S. finishes first week without a loss: FIVB Grand Prix - Volleyball News
The defending champions US Women’s National Volleyball Team seems prepared to seize the world title for another year. Team USA opened the 2011 edition of FIVB Grand Prix in Pool D and they were joined by teams from China, Serbia, and Kazakhstan. The U.S.
team performed tremendously well and finished the first week with absolute success with no losses. In the last match this past Sunday in Luohe, China, USA edged out hosts in straight sets. They posted 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, and 25-16) victory over the Chinese
competitors in front of the home audience and bagged three points for winning the match. Overall, USA collected 9 points in all three matches of the first week and topped the pool ranking.
It was the first meeting of these two teams at the 2011 FIVB Grand Prix. U.S. team had certain advantage over China. They opened the game with convincing shots by Foluke Akinradewo and tried to influence Chinese side with tricky bum passes. Junjing Yang
of China offered strong resistance to American attack but thanks to Destinee Hooker who led USA to the first-set win by exhibiting a stellar performance. China was 5 points behind when USA achieved the set points. First set was closed after 24 minutes’ play.
U.S. team took over the control of operations and continued with success in the following set. Team from China couldn’t come up with the right plan to stop Americans from going up. The better combination of attack and defence allowed USA to secure second
set with the final score of 25-17.
U.S. team was even better in the third set. The energy level of players was quite high and they enjoyed a great form. Third set continued for 21 minutes and finally declared the better status of American team.
Hugh McCutcheon, the successful Coach of U.S. Team was overjoyed with his team’s performance. He appreciated the effort put by every single player in the team. It was indeed a team effort, which led America to success. McCutcheon stated: “I am happy with
our performance today. We got improved every match and this is our best game in this round. Now we focus on Japan, we will immediately prepare next round in Japan.”
Jennifer Tamas, the captain of American team was equally delighted about the good finish in first week. She commented” “We have achieved our goal to get better and better each game. We did better than Friday and Saturday. We are hoping we can do it as well
as here in Japan.”
Chinese coach Yu Juemin congratulated the winning team and praised the good work of American players. The coach said that the match really helped them to learn the gap in basic skills of Chinese and U.S. teams. He urged his players to improve on their flaws
and do well in the upcoming matches.
Tags: