U.S. Women’s Red-Blue Scrimmage Yields Evaluations

Bill Kauffman
Associate Director, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
Email: bill.kauffman@usav.org

U.S. Women's FIVB World Cup Press Kit

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 22, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team held a Red-Blue intrasquad scrimmage Saturday evening at Irvine Valley College in California as part of its preparations for the FIVB World Cup set for next month in Japan.

The scrimmage resulted in a 2-2 tie with the Blue Team winning the first and third sets (26-24 and 25-18), while the Red Team won the second and fourth sets (25-18, 25-15). However, players switched sides during the scrimmage offering different playing combinations for the coaching staff to evaluate.

Seven different players scored at least 10 points. Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) scored 18 points in just three sets of action, while Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) tallied 18 points in four sets. Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) tallied 14 points, while Olympic veterans Danielle Scott-Arruda (Baton Rouge, La.) and Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Laguna Hills, Calif.) each totaled 13 points. Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) and Christa Harmotto (Hopewell, Pa.), former Penn State teammates, notched 10 points each.

Among the individual highlights included Haneef-Park converting 52 percent of her attacks (12 of 23) with only one error, while Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) and Metcalf each claimed four blocks.

Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) set the Red Team the entire match, while Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) and Courtney Thompson (Kent, Wash.) split time setting the Blue Team. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.), Tama Miyashiro (Kaneohe, Hawaii) and Stacy Sykora (Burleson, Texas) all saw time at libero during the scrimmage.

Others scoring in the scrimmage included Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.) and Akinradewo with nine points, Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) with eight points, Jennifer Tamas (Milpitas, Calif.) with six points, Kim Glass (Lancaster, Pa.) with five points, Alisha Glass with four points and Berg with two points.

The Red-Blue scrimmage provided the U.S. Women’s National Team staff time to evaluate players prior to making final decisions on the 14-player FIVB World Cup roster. The FIVB Women’s World Cup, the first 2012 Olympic Games qualification tournament, will be held Nov. 4-18 in various cities in Japan. The top three countries earning a ticket to London next summer.

The FIVB World Cup competition format includes a 12-team tournament field with a round-robin schedule that has each team playing 11 matches over 15 days. Each of the five continental championship winners earned berths into the tournament, along with the four best vice-champions based on world rankings as of Jan. 15. Further, Japan received a spot in the World Cup as the host country, while Italy and Argentina were named wild card teams.

Team USA opens the FIVB World Cup at Nagano with three key battles to open the tournament. On the first day of the tournament, he Americans will face top-ranked Brazil on Nov. 4 in a battle among favorites to win the World Cup. The Americans defeated their South American rivals in the 2011 FIVB World Grand Prix gold-medal match in August. The first round of competition in Nagano does not get any easier on day two as the U.S. plays No. 5 Serbia, the FIVB World Grand Prix bronze medalist. Serbia won one of three meetings with Team USA at the World Grand Prix this summer. The Americans conclude the first round on Nov. 6 against No. 13 Korea.

After a travel day on Nov. 7 to Toyama the U.S. returns to the court on Nov. 8 against African zone champion and No. 15 Kenya on Nov. 8. The Americans end their brief stay in Toyama with a Nov. 9 match with European Championship runner-up Germany, ranked No. 9 in the world.

Team USA travels to Okayama for the third round, which begins with a Nov. 11 match with No. 20 Argentina. The U.S. faces African Championship runner-up and No. 17 Algeria on Nov. 12 before concluding the third round against NORCECA runner-up and No. 14 Dominican Republic on Nov. 13.

The FIVB World Cup concludes Nov. 16-18 with two sites in Tokyo. The U.S. challenges No. 6 China on Nov. 16, followed by No. 7 Italy on Nov. 17 and host and No. 4 Japan on Nov. 18. China was the Asian champions.

U.S. Women’s National Team Preliminary Roster for FIVB World Cup
# - Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 – Alisha Glass (S, 6-0, Leland, Mich., Penn State)
2 – Danielle Scott-Arruda (MB, 6-2, Baton Rouge, La., Long Beach State)
3 - Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Opp, 6-7, Laguna Hills, Calif., Long Beach State)
4 – Lindsey Berg (S, 5-8, Honolulu, Hawaii, Minnesota)
5 – Stacy Sykora (L, 5-10, Burleson, Texas, Texas A&M)
6 - Nicole Davis (L, 5-4, Stockton, Calif., Southern California)
7 - Heather Bown (MB, 6-3, Yorba Linda, Calif., Hawaii)
8 – Cynthia Barboza (OH, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Stanford)
9 - Jennifer Tamas (MB, 6-4, Milpitas, Calif., Pacific)
10 - Kim Glass (OH, 6-2, Lancaster, Pa., Arizona)
11 - Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Nebraska)
12 - Nancy Metcalf (Opp, 6-1, Hull, Iowa, Nebraska)
13 - Christa Harmotto (MB, 6-2, Hopewell, Pa., Penn State)
14 - Tamari Miyashiro (L, 5-7, Kaneohe, Hawaii, Washington)
15 - Logan Tom (OH, 6-1, Salt Lake City, Utah, Stanford)
16 - Foluke Akinradewo (MB, 6-3, Plantation, Fla., Stanford)
17- Mary ‘Nellie’ Spicer (S, 5-9, Barrington, Ill., UCLA)
18 - Megan Hodge (OH, 6-3, Durham, N.C., Penn State)
19 - Destinee Hooker (Opp, 6-4, San Antonio, Texas, Texas)
20 – Courtney Thompson (S, 5-8, Kent, Wash., Washington)

Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Assistant Coach: Karch Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.)
Assistant Coach: Paula Weishoff (Irvine, Calif.)
Assistant Coach/Technical Coordinator: Jamie Morrison (Dana Point, Calif.)
Athletic Trainer/Medical Support: Jill Wosmek (Silver Lake, Minn.)
Team Doctors: Dr. Lori Boyajian-O’Neill and Dr. William Briner, Jr.
Team Manager: Ken Sullivan (Laguna Beach, Calif.)

Tags: Alisha Glass, Christa Harmotto, Courtney Thompson, Cynthia Barboza, Danielle Scott-Arruda, Destinee Hooker, FIVB World Cup, Foluke Akinradewo, Heather Bown, Hugh McCutcheon, Jamie Morrison, Jennifer Tamas, Jill Wosmek, Jordan Larson, Karch Kiraly, Kim Glass, Lindsey Berg, Logan Tom, Megan Hodge, mobile, Nancy Metcalf, Nellie Spicer, Nicole Davis, Paula Weishoff, Stacy Sykora, Tamari Miyashiro, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team