USA-BRA (cont'd) - article

[808]

Since I couldn't post anything on the other thread (seemed to be locked), I thought I'd post this here:

www.usavolleyball.org/VolleyballNews/news.asp?id=843

Brazil Outlasts USA Women in Olympic Quarterfinals

ATHENS, Greece (Aug. 24, 2004) – The 2004 Olympic Games came to a sudden and disappointing end for the USA women’s national volleyball team as Brazil posted a 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 15-6 victory Tuesday night at Peace and Friendship Stadium.

The Americans fought back from a 0-2 deficit to win sets three and four, and then watched as Brazil raced out to an insurmountable 7-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set to secure the win.


“I think we fought well,” said Team USA head coach Toshi Yoshida. “We showed everything that we had…our weaknesses, our strengths. But it was not enough. It was a disappointing match. The Games are over for us.”<br>
Erika Coimbra led all scorers with 20 points to pace a potent Brazilian attack. Marianne Steinbrecher posted 18 points, Virna Dias had 17 points and Walewska Oliveira added 11 points for Brazil, which remained undefeated (6-0) in the tournament.

The Brazilians will now play Russia in one semifinal on Thursday. In the other semifinal, China will take on three-time defending Olympic gold medalist Cuba.

Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) and Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) each scored 15 points to lead five players in double figures for the United States, which finished competition tied for seventh place with a record of 2-4.

“I think tonight’s match was good in the fact that we showed a lot of fight and a lot of heart coming back from being down two sets,” said Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah), who scored 11 points on nine kills and two blocks. “I am very proud of our girls, especially the girls who came off the bench. They gave their all out there.

“I hope people who saw our team tonight are proud of us even though we lost because I know I always will be,” she added.

Team USA, the world’s top-ranked team to begin the Olympics, struggled in pool play and nearly did not advance to the quarterfinals. The Americans lost to China in their first match (1-3) and defeated Germany in their second match (3-1) before dropping a pair of devastating five-set decisions to the Dominican Republic and Russia.

Needing a win it its last match against Cuba to advance to the quarterfinals, the United States put together its best match of the tournament on Sunday night when it registered a stunning 3-0 win.

Team USA was not as sharp against Brazil to start Tuesday’s elimination match and soon found itself on the wrong side of the score after the first two sets. To their credit, the players did not quit.

In fact, they rebounded to win the third set, 25-22, after Brazil had tied the score at 17-all. A kill by Keba Phipps (Las Vegas, Nev.), a block by Haneef and Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and a kill by super sub Ogonna Nnamani (Normal, Ill.) kicked off an 8-5 run by the Americans as they kept the match alive.

“I am very proud of our team,” said Team USA captain Tara Cross-Battle (Houston, Texas), a four-time Olympian playing in her last Olympic match. “We fought very hard, not just tonight but in the last few games that we played. We turned it around (tonight) but we just came up a little short.”<br>
They refused to quit in the fourth set after Brazil overcame a 19-17 deficit to take a 21-19 lead. After a timeout, the United States put together an 8-4 run to win the set, 27-25, and force a fifth-game tiebreaker.

For some reason, however, Team USA could not maintain their momentum. Brazil began the tiebreaker with a kill to take a 1-0 lead, and then watched an attack by Haneef sail wide for a 2-0 lead. Three kills, one block and one lift call on the USA later, Brazil had built a staggering 7-0 lead as their fans began dancing in the stands.

“Things just didn’t go our way,” said Nnamani, who scored 12 points on 12 kills. “It’s just crazy…a short 15-point set, can’t even get a point, and we’re down six-zero. It just happens that way sometimes. We just couldn’t execute.”<br>
The Americans could get no closer than six points the rest of the way and were left to ponder another disappointing five-set loss after beginning the tournament with such high expectations.

“One thing about the USA: we never stop fighting,” Cross-Battle added. “Even though the outcome didn’t come the way we wanted tonight, everybody could see that we fight until the end.”<br>
Haneef blasted 13 kills along with two blocks for the United States, which has not captured an Olympic medal since the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain. Scott had nine kills and a match-high six blocks.

Bown had 10 kills and one block as Team USA finished the season with a record of 20-16. Phipps, playing in her first Olympics since 1988, chipped in with five points in the loss.

“We ran out of gas at the end,” said Nnamani. “We worked so hard emotionally and physically and mentally to come back from being down 0-2. Things just didn’t go our way in the fifth set and Brazil played an excellent match. They did a great job from the start.”<br>

[808]

from volleytalk.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=general&thread=1093356945&action=display&start=210

{]>-(Gorf)-<[} wrote:

For 2008 they need some OH's (and others) that can receive serve and play defense much better and more consistantly than the players on the 2004 team.

Having seen Kim W. play for 4 years at UH, I can say that she receives serve and plays defense very well. I would think she could be an asset to the 2008 team in that regard. Because I didn't see much of the 2004 matches, I couldn't say whether she would have been more consistent than the current players on the team.

[BeiBei]

Brazil has played well and consistently in this tournament and they really deserved this win

USA could not win against China even though China is without their best player, Zhao RuiRui

USA also could not win against Russia even though they are also missing their top player, Artamanova and you can add Tischentko too.

Phipps showed her age at the wrong moment. Haneef is not as great as Toshi wants us to believe.

Very disappointing tournament.

Still remembered that Stacey Sykora mentioned that the team will not be satisfied with less than a gold.
Cannot imagined how she is feeling now but no sympathy for Cross Battle

[sonofbarcelonabob]

Here's the report from Tom Pingel, National Team Director, who is in Athens:

Wednesday, August 25 - 2:45a


Although some members of the USA Women's Volleyball Team may feel that
they didn't play their best match in the quarterfinals versus Brazil.
However, no one can question the effort - not only as an individual
player, but as a team. After getting down 2 games to 0, the USA Women
bounced back to take the next 2 games and push the match to a 5th set.
Brazil came out strong in game 5 and took a 8-1 lead. Still the team
fought to the bitter end.


It was felt that if we played with the intensity and fire that we did
against Russia and Cuba, there was no way we could lose - we may get
beat, but we could not lose. This was the case as Brazil had to play
their best match of the tournament to date before they could punch their
ticket to the semis.


USA started the same starting line-up and needed Ogonna Nnamani to come
off the bench to play a role in sparking the turn around in game 3.
Berg, Metcalf and Cross-Battle all saw action as well.


While the result was a disappointment, the effort was something that USA
and its National Governing Body can be proud.


This sets up the semifinal matches of Brazil/Russia (defeated Korea in
3) and China (defeated Japan in 3)/Cuba (defeated Italy in 5)


On the beach, USA won 2 medals as Walsh/May won the gold over Brazil and
Youngs/McPeak held off Australia to win the bronze.


Wednesday night at 7:30p (10:30a in CO), the USA men will face Greece in
their quarterfinal match, which should prove to be an emotional match as
tickets are already at premium.

[sonofbarcelonabob]

Idapoop sputtered something to this effect on the earlier thread:

I think you're a little out-of-touch with these ladies' intentions bob.

I am? How many numbers on your speed dial did you burn up trying to verify my cosmic left-field predictions?

;D

[sonofbarcelonabob]

USAFAN from the earlier thread:

Contrary to what you're saying, Tee Williams had a major presence on the USA national team. While she did struggle with consistency when she was on, she was one of the top hitters in the world. Kim WIlloughby was definitely not a cookie cutter hitter in college.

If you can point to any major tournament where Teee Williams carried the team, I'd believe you. You kinda point to the essence of her time with the National Team when you say "While she did struggle with consistency...".

In '92, they had to move Kemner from the right over to the left to take one of the OH spots (which were being held by Williams and Cross-Battle) to stabilize the USA offense. Williams/Cross-Battle ended up splitting time at the other OH position.

In '96, Williams contribution to the squad would equate to either a net zero effect or slightly negative effect. Sure she had an occassional thunderous boom, but she had more errors than booms. I don't think she hit above .250 in any match in the tournament (unless maybe they were playing the bottom-feeder teams like host Australia).

Williams was phenomenally gifted a volleyball player, no doubt. But she lacked the mental toughness, and the stability, to overcome an up/down career. Biggest flaw I saw in her was the fact that she had absolutely no vision on her attacks - which is why she always tried to go over the block (which doesn't work internationally) or through the block (her arm wasn't fast enough).

As far as Willoughby's prospects with the National Team goes, no one can ever predict how that will turn out. Past performance in the collegiate game does not predict success at the international level. However, it should be noted that despite her impressive credentials and numbers in college, most of those stats came against less-than-top competition during the regular season in the WAC. When faced with top NCAA competition (i.e. Final Fours) her numbers were drastically different. Magnify that to the international level where the competition is so much higher. The key to whether Willoughby is successful isn't in her physical gifts - there is no doubt she is a special player. The key is how she handles the step up to the next level, and whether she is willing to commit the effort to push herself to play at that level. Her current game would not stand out internationally.