COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 14, 2019) – The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team, ranked No. 1 in the world, cruised past Ukraine 25-2, 25-10, 25-11 on Wednesday to open the World Super 6 in Tokyo, Japan.
Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla.) led Team USA with 13 points on the strength of 10 kills on 12 errorless attacks. Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.) added seven kills on 13 errorless swings, two blocks and an ace for 10 points. Kaleo Kanahele Maclay (Honolulu, Hawaii) charted seven points, all coming on aces in a 16-0 serving run to start the match. Jillian Williams (Odem, Texas) knocked down two kills, two blocks and an ace for five points, which Nicole Nieves (Kissimmee, Fla.) matches with four kills on seven attacks and a block.
Lexi Shifflett (Waseca, Minn.) totaled two blocks, one kill and one ace for four points. Tia Edwards (Skiatook, Okla.) served three aces with a kill for four points. Emma Schieck (Statesville, N.C.) record a kill, block and ace for three points and Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill.) added two kills. Annie Flood (Salem, Ore.) and Bethany Zummo (Dublin, Calif.) rounded out the scoring with a point apiece. Both Schieck and Flood were making their world-level competition debuts.
Zummo was 80 percent positive on 10 reception chances and Burkland was 50 percent positive on four chances.
Team USA converted 51 percent of its attacks with a .439 hitting efficiency (29-4-57). The Americans out-served Ukraine 16-0 in aces and managed a 10-4 block advantage.
Team USA returns to the court on Nov. 14 against host Japan and Russia. The Americans challenge Ukraine on Nov. 15, then conclude the tournament versus Japan and Russia on Nov. 16. The tournament concludes on Nov. 17 with the medal rounds.
Team USA started the opening set with a 16-0 advantage including seven aces from Kanahele Maclay. Erickson added four points in the lopsided 25-2 opening set. In the second set, the Americans reached an early 8-3 margin and increased the margin to 16-9 at the second technical timeout. The U.S. closed out the set strong with a 25-10 victory. Team USA didn’t take its first lead of the third set until 3-2 and extended the margin to 8-4 at the first technical timeout. The Americans stretched the margin to 16-6 with four unanswered points and closed out the set at 25-11 with the final four points.
The Super 6, normally a six-team round-robin event, has been reduced to four teams in 2019 with two teams pulling out prompting a double round-robin pool play.