QUALIFIED: Members of the U.S. Women’s National Team were excited about earning an Olympic berth at the World Cup in Japan. (Photo: FIVB)
grasp if they could beat Japan in either three or four sets, the Americans were swept by the Japanese in three. It was the second time in a little more than a year that Japan had been directly responsible for knocking them down in a medal match – the Japanese defeated the U.S. in fi ve sets in the bronze medal match at the 2010 FIVB World Championships – and it didn’t sit well with setter Lindsey Berg, a two-time Olympian. “I had hoped we would go into the last match and show that we were the best team there, and we missed an opportunity,” she said. “Hopefully, we learned from that and will take care of business in the next big tournament we’re in.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by McCutcheon and assistant coach Karch Kiraly. A priority in 2012 will be getting the team to a level where it can overcome a less-than-great performance and still earn a “W.” At the World Cup, the great performances came against the great teams: Brazil, China and Italy. But the other U.S. loss was to eventual sixth-place fi nisher Germany, a team that all agree shouldn’t be getting the best of the U.S. “We have to raise our baseline level of play to ensure that when we might not be having our best day, we can still fi nd ways to win,” McCutcheon said. “I think we’re capable of doing that. Our opponents in those two matches (Germany and Japan) played very well, but we needed to be one or two points better.” Bown said: “We struggled with the teams that we should play well against, and those were the matches that we just didn’t
have enough left in the tank to take care of. That’s something we really need to work on – keeping that emotional stability. Because that’s as draining as the physical stuff, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that. You can feel great physically, but mentally if you’re not a hundred percent it’s tough.” One of the lessons that came out of the Japan loss can be applied to teams at all levels of the sport. Known for their ability to terminate, the U.S. Women often assault teams with heat from big guns like 6-4 op- posite Destinee Hooker, the former Univer- sity of Texas all-American who ranked No. 1 among all spikers at the World Cup with a 49.53 kill percentage. But against a team like Japan, which digs everything in sight, it’s often better to be crafty than physical. “We got a little frustrated against Ja- pan,” Kiraly said. “When teams and athletes take big swings against Japan, they line up the hitters really well. So what you have to do is get a little squirrely and actually mishit the ball a little and not always hit at top velocity. If anything, it’s better to slop it around a little bit against that team, but we took the route of ‘Oh, yeah, well if you dig this, try digging that!’ And, of course, they would dig that, too.”
The result was an uncharacteristically low 35.9 team kill percentage versus Japan. That marked a big drop from the team’s 11-match tournament total of 46.99 percent, which led the 12-team fi eld – as did the U.S.’s hitting effi ciency mark of .378. Overall, the tournament stats tell the story of how good a two weeks it was for the U.S. Women, who fi nished 2011 as the world’s No. 1 ranked team. With the exception of third-ranked Japan, the U.S. defeated every other team at the World Cup
FINISHING: U.S. Women’s National Team veteran Logan Tom understands the value of an aggresive approach. (Photo: FIVB)
Training tip from
the U.S. coaches One point of emphasis in the training gym of the U.S. Women’s National Team is that all hitters on the court have to prepare them- selves to take a full approach even if they may not get the ball. “When you block, it’s easy to stand
there and watch it all go by,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutch- eon says. “You should block and come down running, get off the net and get ready to ap- proach and take a good swing.” U.S. Women’s National Team Assistant
Coach Karch Kiraly says that getting off the net effi ciently involves proper technique. “A lot of hitters – if they’re not conscien- tious about it – have a tendency to back- pedal off the net, but you can get off the net much faster by turning and, while still watching the ball, sprinting off the net. If you do that, you’re always going to be a better hitter in transition, no matter how lousy the set. Instead of getting seven feet off the net, if you get to 13 or 14 feet off, you can take a nice approach at a lot of different sets. It’s an easy upgrade that any hitter can make, and those six or seven feet make a big difference.”
MIDDLE PRODUCTION: Foluke Akinradewo was one of the many bright spots for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the World Cup. (Photo: FIVB)
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