U.S. Tops Egypt, Reach Youth Olympics Semis

Bill Kauffman
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

Official Stats - Additional Quotes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 23, 2010) – The U.S. Girls’ Youth Olympic Volleyball Team advanced to the Youth Olympic Games semifinal round by defeating Egypt (0-2) 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 on Monday afternoon to win Pool B of the Youth Olympic Games being played in Singapore through Aug. 26.

The U.S. (2-0) advances to the crossover semifinals as the top seed in Pool B and will play Japan (1-1) on Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. local time (3 a.m. Pacific Time). Peru (2-0), winner of Pool A, will face Pool B second-place Belgium (1-1) on Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. local time (7 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 23) in the other semifinal. The bronze-medal match is slated for Aug. 25 at 3:30 p.m. local time, while the gold-medal match will take place Aug. 26 at 9 a.m. To follow the U.S. squad at the Youth Olympic Games, visit usavolleyball.org/events/4749.

Earlier today, Peru defeated Japan 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 in Pool A to gain the group’s top seed into the semifinals. The U.S. earned its first victory of the Youth Olympic Games on Aug. 22 as it defeated Belgium 25-22, 15-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-11.

“I thought we swung for deep corners pretty well, and hit high,” U.S. Girls’ Youth Olympic Team Head Coach Rod Wilde said. “That is one thing we did well. We had some good statistics from Taylor Simpson hitting-wise. Liz did a nice job. She put some right side blocks up there that were really solid. We’ve got to play better. We have to see each opportunity that we’re out there as an opportunity to play better. We did it for short bursts, but we still have to do it for long periods of time.”

The U.S. served four aces in the opening set and built a 10-point lead at 23-13 before holding on for a 25-18 victory. Leading 19-17 in the second set, the Americans put together a key 4-0 scoring run en route to a 25-19 set win. Team USA overcame a 21-18 deficit in the third set by scoring seven of the final nine points including blocks on the final two points to win 25-23.

“We’re obviously very happy to be in the semifinals and have the opportunity to make it into the medal round,” Wilde said. “We are still developing our team, trying to gain an identify for us. When we play well, we play very well. I hope we’ll play very well tomorrow.”

Liz McMahon (Liberty Township, Ohio) paced the U.S. scoring with 12 points on seven kills, three blocks and two aces. Taylor Simpson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) charted nine kills, a block and an ace for 11 points. Samantha Cash (San Diego, Calif.) contributed seven points, while Micha Hancock (Edmond, Okla.) matched the seven points. Katie Mitchell (The Woodlands, Texas) charted five points, while Lauren Teknipp (McDonough, Ga.) provided four points. Crystal Graff (Madison, Wis.) rounded out the scoring with two points.

Team USA held a sizeable 33-21 margin in kills as the Americans converted 41.3 percent of its attacks for points. Egypt converted only 24.4 percent of its attacks for points. The U.S. held a slim 10-9 margin in aces and 5-3 advantage in blocks.

Wilde started Hancock at setter, McMahon at opposite, Simpson and Mitchell at outside hitter, and Cash and Teknipp at middle blocker. Tiffany Morales (Redondo Beach, Calif.) was the designated libero for the match. Graff was a sub in the first and third sets. Madison Kamp (Orland, Ill.) and Olivia Okoro (Carrollton, Texas) were subs in the first set, while Jade Hayes (Ozark, Mo.) came off the bench in the second set.

“I feel like we played a great match, except for the third game,” Cash said. “We’ve really learned how to push through in three games and keep on playing hard, and knowing that we need to push the entire time.”

Egypt’s Yasmin Hussein scored a team-high 11 points in the loss, while teammate Randa Radwan added six points.

Now the U.S. attention turns to Japan in the semifinals, which will not be an easy task.

“They are a very smart team,” Wilde said of Japan. “They’re going to make you play a lot of balls, and that’s what we’re not strong at right now. When the ball comes back over, we don’t always make a good ball control play, so it will force us to be better at that. They’re very, very smart little hitters. They’re going to use our big long arms as targets to try to hit off them. We’re going to spend some time tomorrow staying low, not allowing the hitters to hit off us.”

McMahon said the team is not looking past Japan toward a potential gold-medal appearance in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” McMahon said. “We’re going to prepare tonight for the semis tomorrow against Japan.”

The U.S. built a 4-1 lead in the opening set with a kill and ace by Simpson, in addition to a kill by McMahon and block by Mitchell. Team USA added a Teknipp kill and Egypt error for a 7-2 advantage. McMahon tallied a block and ace followed by an Egypt error to push the lead to 10-3. After two Egypt points, Mitchell scored a kill and ace followed by kills from Simpson and Hancock for a 14-5 American advantage. Egypt cut the gap to 15-10 with a 5-1 scoring run. Hancock served an ace after an Egypt service error and the U.S. went up 18-10 on another Egypt error. Simpson and Mitchell scored consecutive kills at 20-11 leading to an Egypt timeout. Egypt committed two errors to place the Americans in front 22-12. Egypt closed to within five at 23-18 with five consecutive points. Team USA closed out the set with consecutive Egypt errors at 25-18. Simpson and Mitchell scored four points apiece in the opening set, while the U.S. gained eight points on Egypt errors.

Hancock served an ace and McMahon pocketed a kill to start the second set with a 2-0 U.S. lead. Teknipp slammed a kill followed by a Simpson serve that Egypt could not keep in play at 4-1. Team USA went up 6-2 with an Egypt error and Teknipp ace. Egypt scored consecutive points out of the first technical timeout to cut the gap to 8-6. Cash answered with a kill and ace to regain a four-point U.S. cushion at 10-6, then Egypt hit wide to extend the spread to 11-6. Egypt responded with a 4-1 run with two aces to cut the gap to 12-10. Simpson turned in a kill and Teknipp followed with a block to push the score to 14-10. Team USA went into the second technical timeout up 16-11 after consecutive Egypt errors. However, Egypt came out of the break with three points to close to 16-14, thanks to two aces. Team USA collected kills from Simpson and McMahon on consecutive plays to extend its advantage to 21-17. Out of an Egypt timeout, Hancock served her second ace of the set and Egypt hit wide on the next play to give the U.S. a 23-17 advantage. Egypt cut the difference to four points at 23-19 with consecutive points. The U.S. won the final two points with a Simpson kill and Egypt attack error at 25-19. Simpson totaled five points in the second set. The Americans scored four aces in the second set and Egypt gave up eight points on errors.

Teknipp scored the first two points of the third set as the U.S. gained a 2-0 advantage. McMahon and Mitchell scored back-to-back kills to extend the U.S. advantage to 4-1, only to have Egypt score four of the next five points to knot the score at 5-all. McMahon served an ace after an Egypt error to yield a 7-5 Team USA lead. However, Egypt served an ace after a U.S. service error to tie the set at 7-all. A Hancock block and kill around a Cash kill allowed the U.S. move into a 10-7 advantage. Egypt answered with an ace after a kill to close to 10-9. Egypt tied the set at 11-all with an ace and took its first lead of the match at 12-11. Egypt added to its advantage with consecutive points at 14-12 as it scored seven of nine points. Out of a USA timeout, Egypt served an ace to go up 15-12. Graff served an ace after an Egypt error to slice the margin to 15-14. Egypt returned to a three-point cushion at 19-16 after a Team USA attack went long. A Cash kill and Egypt error cut the deficit to 19-18. Egypt re-built its three-point margin at 21-18 with a block. Simpson slammed a kill after a Egypt service error to close the USA back to one at 21-20. McMahon leveled the score at 23-all with a kill after an Egypt error. Out of an Egypt timeout, Teknipp put up a block for a match-point attempt at 24-23. Team USA ended the set at 25-23 with a block by Teknipp next to McMahon.

“As a coach, you try to give them inspiration, but the bottom line is it still has to come from the athletes,” Wilde said on the third-set comeback. “We’ve seen it throughout this tournament, where when they want to play well, they do. Sometimes we don’t mentally check in there as strongly as we could. We’ve got to get better at that because we’re coming up against some very, very good teams. Japan is a very, very good team. If we aren’t playing at a good, high level, they’ll make you pay for it.”

According to McMahon, the comeback in the third set was just getting back to the basics.

“I think we just had to resort back to playing our USA Volleyball, and go on the offense and stop being on our heels,” McMahon said. “We knew they would fight back, but I think we should have been more prepared. I’m happy with the results though.”

The Youth Olympic Games is hosting 3,600 athletes from ages 14-18 that participate on one of 26 different sports. Over 20 National Olympic Committees are participating in the Games. The goal of the event is to teach athletes the basics of Olympism, their ability to have a positive impact on those around them and learning about new cultures. Five educational themes are the driving force of the event; Olympism, skills development, well-being and healthy lifestyle, social responsibility and expression.

Along with these educational themes, the event is doing its part in helping the environment and hopefully engaging an estimated 26,000 spectators to “Go Green." All of the venues hosting the Games have been declared as environmentally-friendly.

Several Web sites are available for the general fan to follow the volleyball action at the Youth Olympic Games. For statistics, photos and other match information, the FIVB has a site portal devoted to the Youth Olympic Games. To reach the site, click here. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Youth Olympic Games site for results and information can be found by clicking here. In addition, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has its own Web portal set up at youtholympicgames.teamusa.org.

The Youth Olympic Games video programming will air daily at 2 p.m. ET and be repeated at midnight ET from August 15-27. The show will feature all 26 sports contended over the 13-day duration of the Youth Olympic Games. Universal Sports’ show will feature highlights, news and information based on the day’s events. There will also be VOD highlights available on www.universalsports.com. In addition, the IOC has created www.youtholympicgames.org for webcasts - both live and on demand.

2010 U.S. Youth Olympic Game Roster:
# - Player (Position, Height, Hometown, Club, Region)
3 - Samantha Cash (MB, 6-3, San Diego, Calif., Coast Volleyball Club, Southern California)
4 - Crystal Graff (OH, 6-3, Madison, Wis., Capital Volleyball Club, Badger)
5 - Micha Hancock (S, 5-11, Edmond, Okla., Oklahoma Peak, Oklahoma)
6 - Jade Hayes (OH/L, 6-0, Ozark, Mo., Springfield Juniors, Heart of America)
7 - Christina Higgins (OH, 6-2, Inglewood, Calif., Sport Shack, Southern California)
8 - Madison Kamp (S, 6-1, Orland, Ill., Ultimate VBC, Great Lakes)
10 - Elizabeth McMahon (MB, 6-6, Liberty Township, Ohio, Team Z, Ohio Valley)
11 - Katie Mitchell (OH, 6-3, The Woodlands, Texas, Texas Pride VBC, Lone Star)
12 - Tiffany Morales (Libero, 5-5, Redondo Beach, Calif., Mizuno Long Beach, Southern California)
14 - Olivia Okoro (MB, 6-1, Carrollton, Texas, Dallas Premier, North Texas)
16 - Taylor Simpson (OH, 6-3, Colorado Springs, Colo., Colorado Juniors, Rocky Mountain)
17 - Lauren Teknipp (MB/OH, 6-2, McDonough, Ga., A5, Southern)

Head Coach: Rodney Wilde (USA)
Assistant Coach: Charlene Johnson-Tagaloa (USA)

2010 Youth Olympic Games
Aug. 21-26 (Singapore)
Toa Payons Sports Hall (Volleyball)
(All Times Listed as Local Time)

Pool A
August 21: Peru def. Singapore 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 (Match 1)
August 22: Japan def. Singapore 25-9, 25-16, 25-9 (Match 3)
August 23: Peru def. Japan 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 (Match 5)

Pool B
August 21: Belgium def. Egypt 25-11, 25-12, 25-10
August 22: USA vs. Belgium 25-22, 15-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-11 (Match 4)
August 23: USA def. Egypt 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 (Match 6)

Semifinal
August 24: Peru (A1) vs. Belgium (B2), 10 a.m./7 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 23 (Match 7)
August 24: USA (B1) vs. Japan (A2), 6 p.m./3 a.m. Pacific Time (Match 8)

Finals

5-6 Place
August 25: Pool A3 vs. Pool B3, 12:30 p.m./9:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 24 (Match 9)

Bronze
August 25: Match 7 Loser vs. Match 8 Loser, 3:30 p.m./12:30 a.m. Pacific Time (Match 10)

Gold
August 26: Match 7 Winner vs. Match 8 Winner, 9 a.m./6 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 25 (Match 11)

Tags: 2010 U.S. Girls' Youth Olympic Team, 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Christina Higgins, Crystal Graff, Jade Hayes, Katie Mitchell, Lauren Teknipp, Liz McMahon, Madison Kamp, Micha Hancock, Olivia Okoro, Rod Wilde, Samantha Cash, Taylor Simpson, Tiffany Morales, YOG, youth, Youth Olympic Games, Youth Olympics