Volleyball Update: USA beat Germany in the final round of FIVB Championship
The U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team took on Germany in the final round of FIVB Championship and captured 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, and 25-23) victory. USA successfully clinched berth in the final match for 5th position in the championship. The classical
match between USA and Germany was played on Friday, 8th October, 2010. The Palapanini sports hall in Italian city Modena hosted the match, which was attended by 3’424 spectators.
Match Overview
The match started with strong attack from both sides. Stanley Clayton of USA was active in all aspects of game. He served the ball with intense power and hit impressive spikes. Other than that, he stood in front of German hitters and did an amazing
job to block the deadly spikes. The other side was also equipped with sharp hitters such as Robert Kromm and Schops Jochen, who defended their team’s score and fought well. The score was tied at 8-8 in the first set. The action continued with same pace and
tie-break shifted to 16-16.
The game was transformed into a heated competition. The head coach of U.S. team, Alan Knipe called the Captain from bench and pointed out a few important things. The point- to-point battle still remained undecided. U.S. team added more points in their score
but Germans were quick to tie it on 20-20. Stanely and Lee put a combined effort and broke the tie 23-21. The American captain William Priddy put an end to the conflict and ended the set at 25-22.
The U.S. team took advantage of the victory and started the second set with confident shots. They were able to build an early lead of 8-4 over Germany at the first technical timeout. The German lacked in service and badly suffered a set-back. USA widened
the gap to 14-9 and remained consistent in hitting the ball with full fore-arm power. Germany hit back and narrowed the lead but failed to break it. USA posted 25-20 win and secured their position.
Germans came up with a better game in the third set and built a lead of 11-7. They kept on moving and took their score to 16-12. Somehow, USA made a strong return and tied the score at 16-16. Germany once again earned quick points and rested for 19-17. The
situation got more interesting when score tied at 22-22. Ultimately, Americans made a difference, finished the set at 25-23, and declared match victory against Germany.
Top Scorers
Stanley Clayton scored the maximum 9 points for the American team. He attained this mark in 24 attack attempts. Schops Jochen of Germany topped the scoring chart with 18 points through 36 attacks. Ironically enough, the second best scorer of the day also
belonged to unsuccessful team. Germany’s Robert Kromm contributed 14 points in his team’s score in 31 attack attempts.
Coaches and Captains’ comments
The captain of Germany’s team, Bjorn Andrea regretted the low performance of his team and commented about the match. He said,
“We didn’t play clever enough to win and we didn’t close the third set when we had a four-point lead. They played good in block and attacks and had the control of the game. That’s why we lost 3-0. It was not our best game.”
The head coach of Germany’s team, Raul Lozano acknowledged the better team set-up of U.S and congratulated them on achieving fabulous victory. The coach of U.S. team always urges the team to work harder. The coach, Alan Knipe said,
“It was an important match for us and a good experience for our young setter Winder playing against an experienced team and that goes also for our outside hitter Paul Lotman. We still need to improve in a lot parts of our game but the blocking made up for
our shortcomings.”
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