Women lose to Italy.
U.S. Women Drop Four-Set Match to Italy
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 18, 2006) – The U.S. Women’s National Team (1-2) dropped a 21-25, 25-27, 25-18, 17-25 match to Italy (3-0) Friday on the third day of the World Grand Prix at Luczniczka Hall in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Italy is ranked third in the latest FIVB world ranking, while Team USA is ranked fifth.
Later today, Poland (0-2) hosts Dominican Republic (1-1) in the same four-team round-robin pod named Group C. The U.S. travels to Macau, China, next week to compete in Group D. Team USA faces China on Aug. 25, Brazil on Aug. 26 and Dominican Republic on Aug. 27.
The U.S. fell behind 13-8 in the early stages of set one, but rallied to within one point on four occasions before falling 25-21. The U.S. led 13-6 and 24-20 in the second set, only to see Italy save four set points en route to completing the comeback with a 27-25 victory. Team USA erased an 8-4 deficit in the third set by going on an 11-1 run to take a 15-9 lead and cruised to a 25-18 victory. Italy bolted a 7-2 lead in the fourth set and went on to carry the set 25-17.
“They played good,” Team USA Head Coach ‘Jenny’ Lang Ping said referring to her squad. “I am proud of them. Italy is a team on a very high level.”
The U.S. started Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) and Therese Crawford (Kalamazoo, Mich.) at outside hitter, Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Jennifer Joines (Milpitas, Calif.) at middle blocker, Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) at opposite, Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) at setter and Candace Lee at libero. Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) subbed in the second set. She started the third and fourth sets for Joines at middle blocker. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) came off the bench in our four sets, while Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) was subbed in the second and fourth sets. Lindsey Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) gained playing time off the bench in the fourth set.
Haneef led the U.S. with 19 points on 14 kills, four blocks and an ace. Metcalf added 15 points via 11 kills and three blocks. Bown contributed 10 points with seven kills, two blocks and an ace. Crawford tallied nine points for the U.S., while Scott charted eight points off the bench. Additional statistics and complete box score will be provided later today on the USA Volleyball web site.