U.S. Girls' Youth Chalk Win Over Slovakia

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

Photo Gallery * FIVB Official Stats

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 16, 2011) - The U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team (GYNT) used a 16-5 block advantage to down Slovakia 27-25, 25-20, 25-19 to start the second round in Pool G of the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ Youth World Championship Turkey 2011 on Tuesday in Pool G action.

 The U.S. victory earns the team three points to begin Pool G, which wipes the first-round records and points clean. The Americans will take their 1-0 Pool G record into Wednesday’s showdown against Thailand on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. local time (2:30 a.m. PT).  Team USA will also compete against Egypt on Thursday at 3 p.m. local time (5 a.m. PT) to conclude Pool G. The top two teams in the Pool G standings advance to the 9-12 classification semifinals on Saturday, while the bottom two teams will fight for 13-16 classification.

Team captain Molly McCage (Spring, Texas) led the team offensively with 12 points from seven kills on 19 attacks and four blocks. Amber Rolfzen (Papillion, Neb.) charted 11 points off of five kills via 13 swings, four blocks and two aces, while Jordan Burgess (Tampa, Fla.) connected on seven kills on a team-high 32 attacks, two blocks and a service ace for 10 points. Paulina Prieto-Cerame (Miami, Fla.) brought the U.S. seven points with four blocks and three kills. Andie Malloy (Allen, Texas) came off the bench to score four points off of four kills. Both Nicole Dalton (Parker, Colo.) and setter Lauren Carlini (Aurora, Ill.) pocketed three points with Dalton delivering two aces and a block, while Carlini collected two aces and a block. 

Libero Allison Palmer (Laguna Beach, Calif.) totaled a team-high 17 digs, while Burgess recorded 13 excellent receptions on 36 attempts. Carlini produced 33 assists on 82 total set attempts.

The U.S. held a 16-5 block advantage over Slovakia. The Americans also held a 7-6 edge in aces. Both teams committed a high number of errors with the U.S. totaling 29 errors to Slovakia’s 48 (attack faults, service faults and aces allowed). Due to the high errors, Team USA’s kill percent was 25.2 percent and its hitting efficiency was .090 (28-18-111). However, Slovakia managed just a 21.6 kill percent and negative .067 hitting efficiency (26-34-119). Slovakia used a 64-54 advantage in digs to remain close in the match.

U.S. Girls' Youth National Team Head Coach Jim Stone started Amber Rolfzen and McCage at middle blocker, Dalton at opposite in the first two sets and Malloy in the third, Burgess and Prieto-Cerame at outside hitter and Carlini at setter. Palmer was the designated libero for the match. Nicole Edelman (Boulder, Colo.) subbed into the match in the third set, while Malloy subbed in both the first and second before starting in place of Dalton in the third.

"It was a nice game for us and Slovakia’s service was very good,” Stone said. “They played very good today. It was a challenging match. If we lost the first set, who knows what could happen." 

Slovakia has a 0-1 record in the second round of Pool G. Nikola Pistelakova led Slovakia with a match-high 14 points on 10 kills and four aces.

China and Argentina join Turkey and Germany in Pool E while Brazil, Serbia, Poland and Japan battle in Pool F. Pool H will host Algeria, Italy, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Pool E and Pool F represent the top eight teams still in the hunt for the gold medal, while Pool G and Pool H are in the 9-16 classification bracket.

Earlier today Serbia defeated Brazil in five sets, 26-28, 21-15, 25-21, 25-16, 17-15 in a marathon two hours and 21 minutes. In Pool E China defeated Argentina, 25-17, 25-19, 25-7 while Thailand outplayed Egypt in Pool G, 25-15, 25-12, 25-22. 

Both teams started out strong with the U.S. taking a one-point lead at 5-4 with blocks by McCage and Amber Rolfzen, followed by a service ace by Carlini and a kill from Burgess. Prieto-Cerame continued the defensive dominance for the U.S. by throwing up two blocks to bring the score to 8-5.  Burgess charted her second kill of the set, followed by Slovakian hitting errors, creating a three-point cushion at 12-9.  Slovakia took a 4-1 scoring run against the U.S. to take its first lead of the game at 14-13. Both teams continued to fight back-and-forth tying the set up at 25-all before back-to-back American points secured the set at 27-25. 

The teams again started out fast-paced tying at 7-all before Slovakia gained some control at 10-8. Dalton connected on an attack followed by a block by Prieto-Cerame to take the match within one at 11-10. Prieto-Cerame and Amber Rolfzed scored two points for the U.S., both finding gaps in the Slovakian defense and attacking forcefully at 13-13.  Slovakia began to tally team errors late in the set, giving the U.S. the chance to pull ahead. Dalton and Burgess connected on kills to tie the set at 15 and 17, respectively. McCage put her fifth kill in the books to give the team a lead at 20-18. Malloy, who subbed in both the first and second set charted back-to-back kills to secure the second set for the U.S. at 25-20.

The story line continued in the third set for the U.S. and Slovakia as the teams alternated points. Carlini recorded a service ace followed by a block off the arms of McCage. Amber Rolfzen connected on a kill while Burgess threw up a solo block. The U.S. took a 6-5 lead with a kill from McCage, only to be retaliated with two unanswered points from Slovakia at 7-6. MCage tallied a block and a service ace at 11-9 followed by errors from the Slovakian side of the court at 14-10. Edelman subbed in at this point and recorded an ace. Malloy charted her fourth kill while McCage followed with a block and an ace to bring the Americans a five-point advantage at 18-13. Amber Rolfzen tallied crucial points in the send of the set with a block and a kill to bring the set to 22-18. Burgess gave the U.S. its game-set-match point and McCage connected on a bullet to secure the match for the U.S. with a third-set score of 25-19.

2011 U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team
Name (Pos, Hometown, HS Grad Year, Club/Region or High School)
1 - Lauren Carlini (S, Aurora, Ill., 2013, West Aurora High School/Aurora, Ill.)
3 - Jordan Burgess (OH, Tampa, Fla., 2012, Tampa Bay Juniors/Florida)
4 - Nicole Dalton (OPP, Parker, Colo., 2012, Front Range/Rocky Mountain)
5 - Nicole Edelman (S, Boulder, Colo., 2012, Front Range/Rocky Mountain)
6 - Alexis Austin * (MB, Houston, Texas, 2012, Thunder Volleyball/Lone Star)
9 - Andie Malloy (OPP, Allen, Texas, 2012, Skyline Juniors/North Texas)
10 - Chloe Collins (S/DS, Cypress, Texas, 2013, Texas Pride/Lone star)
11 - Molly McCage (MB, Spring, Texas, 2012, Woodlands Wave/Lone Star)
12 - Allison Palmer (L, Laguna Beach, Calif., 2012, Laguna Beach/Southern California)
13 - Janae Hall (MB, Centennial, Colo., 2012, Front Range/Rocky Mountain)
15 - Amber Rolfzen (MB, Papillion, Neb., 2013, Nebraska Juniors/Great Plains)
16 - Kadie Rolfzen (OH, Papillion, Neb., 2013, Nebraska Juniors/Great Plains)
17 - Paulina Prieto-Cerame (OH, Miami, Fla., 2011, Boomers Volleyball Club/Florida)
* Alexis Austin was originally named to the roster but could not attend due to injury

2011 Girls' Youth National Team Staff
Head Coach: Jim Stone, USA Volleyball High Performance
Assistant Coach: Melissa Wolter, University of West Florida
Assistant Coach: Charlene Whitted, USA Volleyball High Performance
Team Manager: Heath Hoke
Team Doctor: Priscilla Tu
Technical Coordinator: Herb Summers

Team Rankings (after round one)

1-8 positions 
Pool E: Turkey, Argentina, China, Germany 
Pool F: Poland, Brazil, Serbia, Japan

9- 16 positions 
Pool G: Egypt, Slovakia, USA, Thailand 
Pool H: Algeria, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy

Pool Rankings 
Pool A: 1. Turkey 9 pts 2. Poland 6 pts 3. Egypt 3 pts 4. Algeria 0 
Pool B: 1. Brazil 9 pts 2. Argentina 5 pts 3. Mexico 3 pts 4. Slovakia 1 pt. 
Pool C: 1. China 9 pts. 2. Sebia 6 pts. 3. USA 3 pts 4. Puerto Rico 0 
Pool D: 1. Japan 8 pts 2. Germany 7 pts 3. Italy 3 pts 4. Thailand 0

Second Round (Aug. 16-18) (Ankara, Turkey)
Times are in Pacific Time

Pool E (Baskent Volleyball Hall)
Aug. 16: China def. Argentina 25-17, 25-19, 25-7
Aug. 16: Turkey def. Germany 25-13, 25-20, 25-13
Aug. 17: Germany vs. China, 2:30 a.m.
Aug. 17: Turkey vs. Argentina, 7:30 a.m.
Aug. 18: Argentina vs. Germany, 2:30 a.m.
Aug. 18: China vs. Turkey, 7:30 a.m.

Pool F (Baskent Volleyball Hall)
Aug. 16: Serbia vs. Brazil 26-28, 21-15, 25-21, 25-16, 17-15
Aug. 16: Poland def. Japan 25-23, 25-17, 25-20
Aug. 17: Japan vs. Serbia, 5:00 a.m.
Aug. 17: Poland vs. Brazil, 10:00 a.m.
Aug. 18: Serbia vs. Poland, 5:00 a.m.
Aug. 18: Brazil vs. Japan, 10:00 a.m.

Pool G (Ankara Sports Hall)
Aug. 16: Thailand def. Egypt 25-15, 25-12, 25-22
Aug. 16: USA def. Slovakia 27-25, 25-20, 25-19
Aug. 17: Thailand vs. USA, 2:30 a.m.
Aug. 17: Egypt vs. Slovakia, 5:00 a.m.
Aug. 18: Slovakia vs. Thailand 2:30 a.m.
Aug. 18: USA vs. Egypt, 5:00 a.m.

Pool H (Ankara Sports Hall)
Aug. 16: Italy def. Algeria 25-8, 25-16, 25-18
Aug. 16: Mexico def. Puerto Rico, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22
Aug. 17: Italy cs. Puerto Rico, 7:30 a.m.
Aug. 17: Algeria vs. Mexico, 10:00 a.m.
Aug. 18: Mexico vs. Italy, 7:30 a.m.
Aug. 18: Puerto Rico vs. Algeria, 10:00 a.m.