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Every once in a while, we get some insight from our National Office on the World Tournaments going on. Here are the posts of USA Volleyball's CEO Doug Beal on the World Championships happening this week and next..
Post #3
Maybe we need to start calling this team the KARDIAC KIDS, or the 5 set wonders----anyway, so far it's turning out just fine. Our USA women won a wonderful 5 set match against a very good Dutch team tonight to remain unbeaten and on track to advance out of this very competitive opening pool. There are 2 really good things from this win; the team was significantly better vs. HOL than in the opener vs. KAZ; and tomorrow is a rest day----and a very welcome one for the players who have played more vb than any other team in the event so far. The USA started the same group as yesterday, and like yesterday got a terrific performance off the bench (yesterday it was Jen Joines, today it was Katie Wilkens). Katie came in for Therese Crawford at 4-7 of the 1st set and finished the match; contributing some great passing, solid blocking and timely kills toward the win. Sarah Drury had a nice performance at Libero, especially digging a bunch of very sharp angle hits. The USA was behind at the 1st technical time out (8 points) in the first 4 sets, and finally reversed it to lead 8-7 at the side change in the 5th; the set that counts the most. In the first 2 sets we played very good vb, few errors, very efficient on offense, in control after about 20. The scores were 25-19 and 25-22. We let the 3rd get away from us with a couple unforced errors near the end of a long 27-29 loss, and made a late run in the 4th to lose 20-25. Our middles were very effective all nite----Robyn connected with them all match and Dani and Heather combined for 23 kills, only 4 errs on 36 swings!!!! In fact the whole team kept the errors to a minimum, only 9 hitting errs vs. Hollands' 19. When you add in the block point advantage to USA of 16-3, we won the attacking battle in a significant way. The 5th set was tied at 7, and then the USA was almost perfect; essentially blocking for the last 8 points. Of our 15 points in the 5th, 7 came on stuffs and 5 on Dutch attack errs. We only had to kill 3 balls for the win. The team goal now is to continue the improvement and focus on a very surprising Cameroon on Friday. Most of the rest of the matches were as expected, although Serbia beat Cuba 3-1, and looks like the early surprise of the event, along with Taipei (on the basis of their win over Japan yesterday). Tomorrow looks like a day of video, laundry, an afternoon practice and some recovery/therapy. More soon. Doug
Post #2
Well the Haloween spirit invaded the event, fortunately the USA was able to avoid the tricks that befell some favorites on opening day. Our women survived 3-2 over a very tough KAZ----perhaps this will be very good for the team; they played a long match, had some great performances from players off the bench, came from down 1-8 to win the 5th set and got to work out some rythm and timing issues that caused an up and down performance. The team started with Ah-Mow Santos setting, Metcalf at opposite, Scott and Bown in the middle and Haneef and Crawford on the outside. After losing the 1st set 19-25,and at 9-9 in the 2nd, Jenny brought in Joines for Scott and that was the basic lineup for the rest of the match. The 1st set looked like a team struggling to find it's rythm and get into a system---the passing was pretty good, hitters were getting good swings without many kills. The USA was behind 0-4, 2-8 and 10-16, made a brief run before losing 19-25; no blks and no service pts,a nd 3 attack errs spelled the difference. Game 2 saw us get the lead, give it back and after the tie at 9 pretty much control the rest of that set and all of the 3rd, winning 25-19 and 25-19. The hitters were in better rythm, our middles were very efficient, we had 9 blks in those 2 sets and didn't have a service err till mid way through set 3. The 4th set was close all the way---KAZ had a very dynamic left side hitter who wound up with 40 points for the match (their next highest scorer had 11, and she proved difficult to stop all nite. We served for the game and match twice, but couldn't finish and wound up losing a heartbreaker 28-26. The emotion carried over to the 5th set and we were tentative and error prone, falling behind 1-8 at the side change. Katie Wilkens came in for Crawford at 1-6 and finished; she was 2 for 2 hitting, had 2 blks and no errors; she was great. USA got back in on some good swings, block touches and transition kills by Metcalf and Haneef and a few errors from KAZ. Oh, by the way; Joines was 8 for 8 attacking and had 3 stuffs for a nice performance off the bench. All in all a very nice comeback win, and nice use of the roster by Jenny. Tomorrow is Holland who beat CMR 3-0, but not easily---everyone is good here. I would expect them to be stronger than KAZ---I would also think our team will be better tomorrow. The upsets were Japan losing after a spectacular opening ceremony to Chinese Taipei, Italy(defending Champ) losing to Serbia, and Germany over Dom Repub (3-0). This could turn out to be a very interesting event. The women from KAZ is leading the tourny in points scored by 15 after the 1st nite!!!! Quite an impressive performance; Metcalf is 2nd with 25 pts. Holland is coached by Avital Selinger (Arie's son----and Arie is here to watch and advise). Should be interesting, as they are big and very physical. Follow on the FIVB web site---same time tomorrow. Wish us well. Doug
Post #1
Well, it's Haloween, even here in Japan; and also the starting day for the women's World Championship. The USA starts later this afternoon with a difficult opening match against Kazakhstan (KAZ). This is a relatively new team, but just finished 2nd behind China in an Asia event---beating Japan and Korea. The team has been here in the country since the 22nd training at one of the professional clubs near Tokyo. The conditions were very good; nice hotel fairly close to the gym, wonderful gym available any time wanted, good food and the opportunity to scrimmage a few times vs. the club team----perhaps most importantly they were able to adjust to the sea level environment after being in Colorado Springs for most of the Fall. We transfered from the club center to Kobe (our site for this 1st pool) on the 29th, and have had 2 practices since arrival---1 in the main competition arena. At the training gym there was a trophy case with a ball signed by, among others, Jim Coleman from the visit of the men's team at the 1998 World Championships---also held in Japan. The 1st pool we're in (need to finish top 4 to advance) has USA, KAZ, HOL, BRA, Puerto Rico (PUR) and Cameroon (CMR). This will be one of the 2 strongest preliminary groups (the other is the one we will join with for the 2nd round---of course!!!!). Anyone can follow the match progress on the FIVB web site---which provides live scoring of all matches. Today and tomorrow we play at 6pm local time (that's 2am in Colorado). Yesterday was the Technical meeting; run by our friend NORCECA President Marte, head of the control committee at this site, then a press conf. with the head coaches----nothing remarkable and finally official team photos----so they don't have to try to get them on the court today. The team is a little different than the one that played in the Grand Champions Cup last November, Robyn Ah-Mow-Santos has replaced Lindsay Berg as setter, and Heather Bown has rejoined the team as a middle. Some very familiar faces are Dani Scott, Tay Haneef, and Nancy Metcalf. It seems like a nice blend of experience and newcomers, who are all eager for the event to start. The staff is "Jenny" Lang Ping (Hd. Coach); Li Yong (Assist. Coach); Tom Hogan (Assist. Coach); Diane French (Tech Coach); Emery Hill (Trainer); Dr. Bill Briner (Doc). More after the match---wish us well. Doug Beal (Team Leader)
Zia congratulates our Ironwood girls as they prove themselves the team to beat in the upcoming State tournament. Sarah Reaves, Kim Moses, Jennifer Robinson, Madison Orton, Kristy Friesen and Chelaine Barrett, Zia athletes all, have made Ironwood, as Jose Garcia says in his article, "the best volleyball team in Arizona." Congrats ladies on a hard fought and well deserved weekend.!
Ironwood takes out Xavier
José E. Garcia
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 8, 2006 01:29 AM
Glendale Ironwood thanked Phoenix Xavier for relieving the pressure of its record, and Xavier paid the price for it.
Ironwood entered the Phoenix Goldwater Volleyball Festival tournament undefeated and with a No..1 Class 5A Division II ranking, but it was also feeling the stress with every win it tallied. Then came Xavier, which handed Ironwood its first loss during the Goldwater tournament.
The two teams met again in Saturday's tournament final, and this time a more relaxed Ironwood team walked away from Phoenix Goldwater's gym with a 25-21, 25-23 victory and the championship trophy.
“It was a bit of a relief,” said Ironwood coach Kathy Wilson about her team's first loss.
The options Ironwood carries also helped calm the team, and setter Kristi Friesen is finding her weapons.
The sophomore setter admitted she gets nervous in championship matches, but she also thrives in them.
“I do a lot better when I'm nervous,” Friesen said. Anywhere, anything, whatever I set them (teammates) they put it down.”
The opponents' game plan is usually geared toward stopping Ironwood's senior outside hitter Sarah Reaves, but that strategy may backfire.
Reeves had only three kills in Game 1, as Ironwood's defense and all around attack kept Xavier off-balance. “I hope other programs now realize that we are also capable of coming up with big wins,” Reeves said. Ironwood's Kim Moses and Bethany Sanford are also capable of coming up with big plays.
Moses and Sanford's digs on an outside hitter led to a point and a 7-4 Ironwood lead in Game 1. Xavier came back to take a 9-7 lead with the help of Kristin Preach's serves to Ironwood's back row.
Later in Game 1, Moses and Sanford once again came through. Moses collected two more digs, and a Sanford back row kill gave Ironwood a 17-15 lead.
Sanford added the final point in Game 1 when she hammered a shot straight down the line with two blockers up. Reeves also had a momentum-building dig in Game 2 that put Ironwood ahead 17-15, but Xavier didn't go away. Junior Kelsey Bohman's dig on Reeves' hard kill attempt led to a Xavier point to cut Ironwood's lead, 22-20. But Reaves (six kills in Game 2) closed Game 2 with a solo block and a kill off a blocker from the right side.
“They (Ironwood) wanted it,” Xavier coach Tim McHale said. “They executed and played well. I'm disappointed, but we responded in this tournament.”
Xavier is young, but reaching the final helped his team understand what it takes to win big games, McHale said. The team that is ahead of the 5A-II title race is Ironwood (30-1), which also won the Mesa Westwood Tournament of Champions this season. Winning at Westwood and Goldwater means Ironwood is the best volleyball team in Arizona.
Read about Samantha Eastburn, one of the 17-Fury's finest. She was featured in the Glendale Star. Go here to read her article.
Sarah Reaves Commits To Arizona State
Junior Sarah Reaves, a 5-10 outside hitter for the 18-Garra team and a member of Zia for the past
Reaves, who was a second team All-State selection and the Desert West Region Player of the Year was eyed by several schools including Cal-State Fullerton, Concordia University, Washington State University, UNLV and New Mexico to name but a few.
Reaves is the first Zia athlete to play in the PAC-10 conference, considered the best volleyball conference in the nation. She will join Garra assistant coaches Margie Giordano and Giovanna Melo who are also with the team; Giordano as an outside hitter and Melo who is the team’s volunteer Assistant Coach.
Congratulations to Sarah for her accomplishment and best wishes to her in the future!
Zia Garners Scholarships for All Recruits
Cementing its claim as the leader in volleyball in the west valley, Zia is exceptionally proud to announce that ALL of its recruits for the 2006 season have signed letters of intent to play college volleyball.
Senior setter Aumee Barrett has signed a letter of intent to play with Phoenix College next season.
Joining Aumee will be opposite hitter Shellie Parks who also will join first year coach Karen Sitkiewicz in the Bear Den.
P.C. had already signed Zia athletes Lisa Doremus and Michelle Burrola and they all join Zia alum Jenny Chamberlin on next year’s roster.
Finalizing Zia’s success in the recruiting arena was Senior Kelly McDonald who has signed to play for Coach Pat Mooney at South Mountain Community College.
They join seniors Ashley Getz who has signed with Embry-Riddle University and Nicki Wanninger who signed with Yavapai College, both schools in Prescott.
Congratulations and best of luck to these wonderful Zia girls in their future volleyball careers.