Women’s Team Named Sitting Team of the Year

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 22, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team won both of its major international tournaments and posted an 18-1 record, earning it the Sitting Team of the Year for 2011.

“We had a very successful year from a number of standpoints,” said U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter. “One being that we won a lot; but two and the most important being that we were able to get the younger players great experience.”

In late 2010, the women captured the silver medal at the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships earning them a trip to the 2012 Paralympics in London. With the bid already in its pocket, the team had room to relax in 2011 but it chose not to. 

In March, the team traveled to Denver, in conjunction with the Crossroads Qualifier, to play a club team from Shanghai, China that included players from its national team. China is the only team in recent history that the U.S. women have not been able to beat. Team USA took the four exhibition matches seriously and went undefeated against the Shanghai club team.

The team suffered a devastating blow in May as its captain, Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) suffered injuries in a head-on car accident in Morgan Country, Ind. Lancaster, 24, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in critical condition, but her injuries proved to not be life threatening and she is expected to be back with the team in 2012.

In September 2011, Team USA traveled to Yekotoriya, Ukraine for the ECVD Continental Cup where it swept the competition with a 7-0 record and won the gold medal. In addition to the team honor, three players received individual awards for their outstanding play including Holloway who was named best spiker and Most Valuable Player. Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla.) was named Best Server and Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) earned Best Libero.

“I'm most proud of the huge strides we have made as a team,” Katie Holloway Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete) said. “In Ukraine, there was such maturity shown on the court. When we were down by a few points, we never let ourselves get into a slump. We would always fight our way back, and every person took on that responsibility. In past years we would ride on our emotional ups and downs, this year I saw that change for the better in our Ukraine tournament.”

Eager to improve their team play, the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team then traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the 2011 Parapan American Zonal Championships. The team posted an unblemished 5-0 run to secure the gold medal. Holloway again was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Best Spiker. Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete) was named best server and Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.), the youngest on the team at 15-years-old, was named best setter.

“The team played well this year because of the focus we had going into each competition,” Holloway said. (Head Coach) Bill [Hamiter] has done an incredible job with our team and helping us to focus on the task at hand in each match, which most of the time is focusing on us.”

The team will now head into the 2012 year with the London Paralympics as their focus. They will have a little more than six months to prepare in hopes to bring the gold home to the United States.

“We have our blinders on for the 2012 year,” Hamiter said. “Our focus will be London, getting a roster ready to represent the U.S. and fine-tuning our skills to compete at our highest level.” 

Tags: Bill Hamiter, Heather Erickson, Kaleo Kanahele, Kari Miller, Katie Holloway, Michelle Gerlosky, mobile, sitting, Sitting Volleyball, Sitting Volleyball World Championships, U.S. Women's Sitting Volleyball Team