2011 U.S. Women's National Team Match Capsules U.S. WOMEN’S TRAINING TEAM BLANKS JAPAN GIRLS’ YOUTH TEAM
U.S. WOMEN’S TRAINING TEAM SWEEPS JAPAN GIRLS’ YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM
USA..................................25 25 25 Japan Girls’ Youth.............11 20 19
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (March 1, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s National Training Team defeated the Japan Girls’ Youth National Team 25-11, 25-20, 25-19 on March 1 in a friendly exhibition match held at St. Margaret’s Episcopal High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Kindra Carlson (Eaton, Colo.) and Becky Perry (Austin, Texas) paced the U.S. with 16 points apiece. Carlson charted 10 kills on 17 attacks as part of a .412 hitting efficiency while adding five aces and a blocks. Perry tacked on six kills, six aces and four blocks in the victory. Jenna Hagglund (West Chester, Ohio) led the Americans to a .274 hitting efficiency and 45 kill percent from her setter position. Carlson, Perry and Hagglund were all part of the University of Washington program last fall. Kaitlin Sather (Santa Rosa, Calif.) contributed five kills on nine attacks to go with a block for six points. U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach started Hagglund at setter, Carlson at opposite, Perry and Sather at outside hitter, and Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) and Ashley Benson (Bloomington, Ind.) at middle blocker. Kayla Banwarth (Dubuque, Iowa) was the libero for the match. Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) and Julianne Piggott (Newport Beach, Calif.) entered as subs in the third set. Rounding out the U.S. scoring was Gibbemeyer with five points, Piggott with three points, Benson with two points and Johnson with one point. Banwarth turned in a 54 percent excellent service reception on 13 attempts. Perry was credited with 13 reception attempts. Japan was by Kasumi Nakaya’s 12 points on eight kills, three aces and one block. Yui Asahi and Aya Horie each added seven points. Team USA held an 11-9 advantage in aces and limited the visiting Japan Girls’ Youth National Team to a negative .034 hitting efficiency. The Americans forged a 10-3 block advantage as Japan committed 27 hitting errors to the USA’s eight. The Japan Girls’ Youth National Team did have a 46 percent positive service reception to the USA’s 38 percent. In the first set, the U.S. broke free from a 7-6 advantage by scoring 14 of the next 15 points establishing a 21-7 lead. The Americans went on to win the set 25-11. After holding a 16-11 lead at the second technical timeout of the second set, Japan fought to within one point at 20-19 before the U.S. scored five of the final six points. Team USA inched to leads of 8-7 and 16-12 at the third set technical timeouts and held on for a 25-19 victory.
USA..................................25 25 25 Japan Girls’ Youth.............10 12 17
IRVINE, Calif. (March 2, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s National Training Team defeated the Japan Girls’ Youth National Team 25-10, 25-12, 25-17 on March 2 in a friendly exhibition match held at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif. The U.S. also won yesterday’s exhibition match versus the Japan Girls’ Youth National Team by scores of 25-11, 25-20, 25-19. A total of nine different U.S. players scored at least one point during Wednesday night’s exhibition. Kindra Carlson (Eaton, Colo.), Becky Perry (Austin, Texas) and Kaitlin Sather (Santa Rosa, Calif.) all scored 11 points in the victory. Sather tallied a team-high 10 kills on 20 errorless attacks to go with a block, while Perry totaled eight kills on 16 errorless attacks to go with three aces. Carlson produced six kills on 13 errorless swings, along with three aces and two blocks. Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) notched seven points with six kills on 11 attacks and a block. Carli Lloyd (Bonsall, Calif.) charted three aces, two kills and two blocks for six points. Ashley Benson (Bloomington, Ind.) pocketed two kills and two aces for four points, while Naomi Johnson (Bloomington, Minn.) collected three points. Rounding out the scoring were Dominique Olowolafe (Lansing, Mich.) and Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach, Calif.) with two and one point, respectively. U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) started Lloyd at setter, Carlson at opposite, Benson and Gibbemeyer at middle blocker and Perry and Sather at outside hitter. Kayla Banwarth (Dubuque, Iowa) was the designated libero for the first two sets, while Ellie Blankenship (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) was the U.S. libero in the third set. Olowolafe subbed into the match during the second set and started the third set along with Johnson, replacing Benson and Gibbemeyer. Cami Croteau (Orange, Calif.) was a back-row sub in all three sets. Perry produced a 62 percent positive reception on a team-high eight attempts, while Sather had a 50 percent positive reception on eight attempts. Banwarth totaled five reception attempts with an 80 percent excellent reception mark. Japan had 10 of its 12 Girls’ Youth National Team roster members score at least one point in the match. Yui Asahi, Nozomi Ito and Sakura Doi all scored five points apiece in the match. Team USA produced a 46 percent kill percent with only four hitting errors on 78 attacks for a .410 hitting efficiency. The Americans held a 7-2 margin in aces, along with a 13-4 advantage in service aces. The Japan Girls’ Youth National Team was limited to a 26 kill percent for the match. The U.S. jumped out to early leads in all three sets, starting with an 8-2 advantage in the first set. The Americans reached the second technical timeout leading 16-9 before closing out the set with nine of the final 10 points. The U.S. scored five of its seven blocks in the opening set. In the second set, Team USA inched its leads to 8-4 and 16-8 at the technical timeouts and rolled to the 25-12 victory as it scored seven of its 13 aces in the frame. Japan fell behind 8-3 in the third set, but hung close at 20-14. The U.S. finished the set at 25-17.
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