NOTEBOOK
Beach teams earn trips to China for U21 Worlds Experience mattered at USA
Volleyball’s U21 Beach Trials held in Chula Vista, California, in late December. Both teams who earned berths for the FIVB Beach U21 World Championships to be held in China had at least one player with international experi- ence.
The women’s spot went to
Kathryn Plummer and Mima Mirkovic, who earned a bronze medal in the FIVB Beach U19 World Championships last sum- mer. On the men’s side, Clay Messenger and Adam Wienck- owski earned the U.S. spot. The event will be held July 11-16 in China. Messenger placed 17th in the 2016 U19 event with Rob Mullahey. Plummer and Mirkovic
outlasted Torrey Van Winden and Savannah Simo to earn the gold in Chula Vista by scores of 17-21, 21-14, 23-21 in the champion- ship match. Haley Hallgren and Sammy Slater secured a medal by winning the bronze medal-match against Gina Lipscomb and Katie Sarber. Messenger and Wienckowski also needed three sets to dispatch of Marcus Partain and Miles Partain in the finals by scores of 19-21, 21-16, 15-6. Rob Mul- lahey and Will Bantle earned the bronze. Marcio Sicoli and Jose Loiola
will serve as head coaches of the U21 team that will travel to China. Sicoli brings a wealth of
knowledge to the High Perfor- mance program after serving as the Olympic coach for 2016 bronze medalists April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings. The Brazilian native has been coaching full-time on the beach since 2012. Prior to an Olympic gold-medal run with Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor in 2012, Sicoli was an assistant coach with Pepperdine’s indoor program. Loiola most recently coached
2016 Olympic hopefuls Jennifer Kessy and Emily Day during the 2015-16 FIVB World Tour. Loiola won 55 tournaments as a player competing on both the AVP and FIVB tours.
Rob Mullahey sneaks a cut shot inside the block of Adam Wienckowski at USA Volleyball’s U21 Beach Trials, where top prospects competed for spots to play in China in June. (Photo: Don Liebig)
U.S. Women, U.S. Men
receive elite event bids Both the U.S. Women’s and
Men’s National Teams have quali- fied for the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in September. The U.S. Women’s National
Team has qualified to compete in the six-team FIVB World Grand Champions Cup that will take place Sept. 5-10 in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan.
The field is comprised of the top-ranked team from the four highest ranked continental confederations, plus one wild card joining host Japan. Team USA will represent NORCECA. The Asian Volleyball Con- federation will be represented by reigning Olympic Games champion China, while the South American Confederation is repre- sented by world’s fourth-ranked Brazil. Russia, ranked fifth in the
world, will represent the European Confederation. Korea, ranked 10th in the world, was selected as the wild card and sixth-ranked Japan rounds out the field. The Women’s World Grand Champions Cup will have the first two days staged at the Tokyo Met-
18 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
ropolitan Gymnasium on Sept. 5-6, before the tournament shifts to Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya for the final three days Sept. 8-10. The tournament utilizes a round- robin format. The U.S. Men’s National
Team, ranked No. 2 in the world, has qualified for the 2017 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup by virtue of being ranked first in the NORCECA Zone.
Along with the U.S. Men,
world No. 1 and Olympic champion Brazil, No. 4 Italy, No. 7 Iran, No. 9 France and No. 14 Japan are scheduled to compete on Sept. 12-13 at Nippongaishi Hall in Nagoya and Sept. 15-17 at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium. The FIVB World Grand Champions Cup has been held every four years since 1993 and is played the year after the Olympic Games in Japan.
Anaheim remains home to USA National Teams
USA Volleyball has formally signed an extension with Sports Anaheim, where Anaheim will serve as the Official Host City of the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Na-
tional Teams. The new deal runs through the entire 2020 Olympic quadrennial. “USA Volleyball could not
be more pleased that our U.S. Women’s and Men’s National Teams will be calling the City of Anaheim home for another four years,” USA Volleyball Secretary General Kerry Klostermann said. “The U.S. Men’s team relocated to Anaheim in 2006 and the U.S. Women followed in 2009. The Olympic medals won by the teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016 are attributable to the generous support provided by the City of Anaheim and its citizens.” In September 2016, the Anaheim City Council approved funding that will pay USA Vol- leyball $1.5 million over the next four years leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Follow- ing the Anaheim City Council vote, USA Volleyball and Sports Anaheim, a division of Anaheim’s convention and visitor’s bureau Visit Anaheim, negotiated the final contract details to stay within the framework of the City Coun- cil approved vote.
Dunning retires after NCAA championship run
John Dunning, one of the most successful and respected col- legiate women’s volleyball coaches in history, decided to retire on top.
Dunning announced his res-
ignation from Stanford University just three weeks after winning his fourth NCAA Division I champi- onship with the Cardinal and his fifth overall. “I am a very lucky person. I
have had the joy of coaching in a sport I love for decades, but have decided that it is time to retire,” said Dunning, who in December led Stanford to its record-tying seventh NCAA title with a 3-1 victory over Texas. “I have had the wonderful opportunity to coach so many great student-athletes, and work with amazing people in amazing programs at great universities.” Dunning directed Stanford
to three national champion- ships (2001, 2004, 2016) and eight conference titles dur- ing his 16-year tenure on The
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