USA Volleyball Blogs

Fourth-Place Finish

Thu Aug 11 07:25:00 -0400 2011

What a great run for the Jr National Team in Rio de Janeiro! We battled and played with heart today but just didn't have an answer for a very good Serbian team with a seasoned pro playing opposite. Remember this name:  Aleksandar Atanasijevic AA is the real deal. He really stepped up his game… Read More

Bound for Bronze

Wed Aug 10 07:31:00 -0400 2011

The U.S. Jr. National Team had our gold medal dreams dashed by Argentina today.  The boys are bummed but there is a lot to learn from today's match. First of all, Argentina is a class act.  They do "more with less" than any other federation.  They are never the most physical team but… Read More

A Good Loss?

Sun Aug 07 23:22:00 -0400 2011

Tonight we played Russia for bragging rites of Pool E; it wasn't worth much more since we have both qualified for the medal round with 8 (Russia) and 7 (U.S.) points. Both teams play with a lot of pride, so it was a great competition despite two very tired teams on the floor. There was a ton of… Read More

Making History in Rio de Janeiro

Sat Aug 06 22:19:00 -0400 2011

What a battle! The final score: USA 114-Spain 110 (total points) Spain played a wonderful match tonight. They had more blocks, digs and kills, but USA had a bit more grit to outlast the Spaniards in five. We were not smooth tonight. We really struggled connecting in the middle, but we put a lot of… Read More

U.S. Throws Block Party in Rio

Fri Aug 05 22:49:00 -0400 2011

Team USA can block! What a display of disciplined team blocking demonstrated by our Junior National Team. Our block really changed the tone of the match after struggling early with passing and dropping the first set 22-25. The good news is we got a lot better In serve receive and let our… Read More

Moving on to the Top Eight

Fri Aug 05 07:52:00 -0400 2011

I was wrong... We won our pool!! The Jr USA staff was mentally preparing for Argentina, Serbia and India, but since it took Brazil five sets to beat Bulgaria, the tie breaker goes to the team with the best ratio of sets. Advantage USA by .024! We now prepare for Iran, Spain and Russia as the top… Read More

First Mission Accomplished

Thu Aug 04 20:59:00 -0400 2011

We made it through! The boys responded the way USAV should after a loss and we took down Japan in four. The boys came out fired up in set one and rolled with some stellar blocking and transition offense. We were out of system too much in set two as a result of some tough float serves by Japan.… Read More

Rough Night in Rio

Wed Aug 03 08:06:00 -0400 2011

We dropped a tough match to host team Brazil this evening 1-3. We are all disappointed but hats off to Brazil. After yesterday's loss to Japan, we knew Brazil was going to be very focused. They served tough jump and standing floaters and kept our passers off balance. Although we were out of system… Read More

Poise and Pride

Mon Aug 01 23:35:00 -0400 2011

The boys played with poise this evening! We took down a talented team in Bulgaria, 3-0, with a balanced attack and disciplined defense. Micah Christenson did a nice job getting our hitters one-on-one opportunities. We were great exacting our will in the middle of the court with the BIQ and quick. … Read More