U.S. NATIONAL TEAMS
Two of the big rocks before the gold-medal performance at last year’s World Championship were switching jump-spin serv- ers to jump-fl oat servers and getting the outside hitters to improve their ability to hit high hands. “We did those two things at a very high level at the World Champion- ship,” Dietzen said. “Big rocks are things we set our mind to, and we work on them and focus on them and it usually serves us pretty well.”
One of the big rocks entering this year’s World Cup was to focus on passing, which wasn’t particularly strong over the summer at the World Grand Prix even though the U.S. won the tourna- ment. The extra work paid off. The U.S. women had “the best passing perfor- mance that we’ve ever had and we sided out at the best level that we ever have,” Kiraly said. Coming out of the World Cup, the big rocks included working on the transition game (digging off the net, hitters working hard to get off the net to be available for sets, and setters being able to fi re sets to the middles even if they’re off the net) and shor- ing up block-defense communication. That one in particular speaks to a broader goal of being more nimble during matches to adjust to what the other team is bringing. “As blockers, it’s important for us to clarify that what we’re taking at the net is the same as what our back-row defense is read- ing,” Larson-Burbach said. “And maybe it’s not always what’s on the scouting report. It’s more about reading the game and taking into account where the hitter is in relation to the ball, where the ball is in relation to the net – things like that.”
NEW FACES Ten of the 14 players on the World Cup
roster hadn’t played in this tournament in the past (see chart on Page 47), but Larson-Bur- bach was impressed with the composure they demonstrated during the 11-match, 16-day schedule. “[The World Cup] is brutal on your body and brutal on your mind,” she said. “Playing
48 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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FULL CUP: The USA’s Tori Dixon was named the Second Best Middle Blocker at the FIVB World Cup. Triple Crown medal sweep now in sight
The fi rst medal fi nish for a U.S. Women’s team at a triple crown tournament (Olympics, FIVB World Cup, FIVB World championship) came in 1967 when the Americans took silver at the FIVB World Championship in Japan. In nearly half a century since then, the U.S. wom- en have won a total of 13 triple crown medals: one gold, six silver and six bronze. Assuming the U.S. Women qualify for
next summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the current team will have a chance to be the fi rst in the program’s history to win a medal at all three triple crown tournaments in a single qua- drennial. The team that represented the U.S. at the 2004 Olympics also had that opportunity but fi nished fi fth in Athens.
at such a high level for so long is defi nitely hard. I remember my fi rst World Cup last quad and how much of a grind it was. The players who hadn’t been a part of this before did a nice job of handling themselves during the whole process.”
In many ways, the process is just begin- ning to heat up. First, there’s qualifying,
U.S. Women’s Team Medal Count 1967 silver (FIVB World Championship, Japan) 1982 bronze (FIVB World Championship, Peru) 1984 silver (Olympics, Los Angeles) 1990 bronze (FIVB World Championship, China) 1992 bronze (Olympics, Barcelona) 2002 silver (FIVB World Championship, Germany) 2003 bronze (FIVB World Cup, Japan) 2007 bronze (FIVB World Cup, Japan) 2008 silver (Olympics, Beijing) 2011 silver (FIVB World Cup, Japan) 2012 silver (Olympics, London) 2014 gold (FIVB World Championship, Italy) 2015 bronze (FIVB World Cup, Japan)
and then there are the fi nal position battles next spring for the coveted Olympic roster spots. Those are even harder to come by than the World Cup positions since the Olympic roster is 12 players, not 14. Suffi ce to say, there’s plenty of work
ahead. And many more big rocks to put in the jar.
PHOTO: FIVB
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