20 16 PARALYMPICS
“
“We all could visualize the celebration.
We all knew that was in the back of our minds, but how we were going to get there? We had no idea. We all climbed the mountain together.
— Katie Holloway on winning the gold medal
”
CELEBRATING NO.1: Lora Webster (above) leads a jubliant Team USA after a sweep of China en route to the program’s first Paralympics gold medal. Michelle Schiffler (below) owned one of the biggest smiles on the medal podium.
2016 Paralympic Games
Women’s Sitting Volleyball Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
l United States l China l Brazil
Results for U.S. Women’s team Sept. 10 U.S. Women def. Iran, 25-17, 25-13, 25-9 Sept. 12 U.S. Women lost to China 25-17, 14-25, 14-25, 28-26, 15-13 Sept. 14 U.S. Women def. Rwanda, 25-10, 25-8, 25-3 Sept. 16 U.S. Women def. Brazil, 25-13, 28-26, 25-18 Sept. 17 U.S. Women def. China, 25-12, 25-12, 25-18
was good,” U.S. Paralympic Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter said. “It was great to see some good play out of the bench. I was trying to create a good balance where everyone is ready to play tomorrow if we need them.” Just 24 hours later, the Americans toppled host-nation Brazil 25-13, 28-26, 25-18 to set up the gold medal match the team had hoped for since London: U.S. versus China for gold.
30 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
The U.S. controlled the match from the outset as China struggled with attack errors. The U.S. Women committed just 14 unforced errors in the match compared to 30 by China, 23 of which were attack errors. For Team USA, the only focus was what happened on its side of the net. “We all could visualize the celebration. We
all knew that was in the back of our minds, but how we were going to get there? We
had no idea. We all climbed the mountain together,” three-time Paralympian Katie Hol- loway said. “I couldn’t believe how we played. I mean, I can, but I didn’t picture it that way. It’s as pretty close to perfect as we could get.” Following the historic win, captain and
three-time Paralympian Heather Erickson was named the tournament most valuable player and Best Receiver. Webster also was named Best Blocker after leading all blockers
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