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Volleyball - 31. March 2008.

Team USA Edges ZheJiang 3-2 on China Exhibition Tour

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 30, 2008) – Alix Klineman scored a match-high 26 points and the U.S. Women’s National Training Team dominated the net as the Americans defeated ZheJiang, a professional Chinese club team, 15-25, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-10 Saturday at FuYang, China.

Alix Klineman. Photo copyrighted by USA Volleyball

Team USA improves to 4-2 on its eight-match exhibition tour of China. The Americans conclude their tour with matches in Nanjing on April 1 and April 2.

Team USA’s three-week training tour of China was designed to allow the coaches to evaluate a younger group of players in preparation for Olympic Games roster selections. The U.S. qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games, held Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, by finishing with a bronze medal at the 2007 FIVB World Cup.

Team USA started middle blockers Tracy Stalls (Denver) and Lauren Paolini (Ann Arbor, Mich.), outside hitters Klineman and Juliann Faucette (San Diego), opposite Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) and setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) versus ZheJiang. Team captain Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) served as the libero for the match. Destinee Hooker (San Antonio) started the last four sets in place of Faucette, who are both University of Texas teammates. Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) started the final four sets in place of Paolini. Hughes subbed into the match as a reserve in both the third and fourth sets.

Klineman charted her 26 points with 19 kills on 46 attacks, six blocks and an ace. Hooker added 19 points with 12 kills on 29 swings, six blocks and an ace. Akinradewo chipped in 16 points with 10 kills on 16 attacks, five blocks and an ace. Stalls recorded seven kills, three blocks and an ace for 11 points. Busse turned in nine points via seven kills and two blocks. Faucette tallied two kills in her only set of play. McGinnis added two kills and 14 digs while setting the Team USA offense to a 40 kill percent. Davis matched McGinnis for the team lead in digs with 14, while holding a 65 excellent serve-receive percent (71 positive percent).

The U.S. held a commanding 22-6 block advantage for the match as ZheJiang was held to a 31 kill percent and .117 attack percentage. ZheJiang made up for some of its offensive problems by holding a 10-4 ace advantage and putting Team USA out-of-system on a regular basis. The U.S. held a slim 49-41 dig advantage. The Americans also won five points on back-row kills to ZheJiang’s zero.

ZheJiang never trailed in the opening set as it worked itself out to a 10-3 lead. The Americans fell behind 17-6 as ZheJiang scored five unanswered points. Team USA scored its first consecutive points of the set at 17-8 with a block from Busse after a ZheJiang service error. The U.S. cut the deficit to six points at 20-14 as Stalls put down a kill followed by a ZheJiang attack error. However, ZheJiang scored five of the final six points to win the set 25-15.

Klineman took over the early parts of the second set as she scored seven points (five kills, two blocks) in a 9-3 start to the period. Hooker and Akinradewo added a kill each to push the American lead to 11-3, which also included three points from Akinradewo. ZheJiang made a push of its own to close to within three at 12-9. Leading 14-11, the U.S. launched a 5-0 run with two kills from Busse and two blocks from Akinradewo for a 19-11 advantage. Klineman stopped a mini-ZheJiang run with a kill at 22-14. Akinradewo hammered a quick set for a kill and followed up with an ace to give the U.S. several set points at 24-15. After ZheJiang saved one chance, the U.S. won 25-16 on a service error. The U.S. converted 52 percent of its 27 attacks into kills with only two hitting errors. The Americans also scored a 7-1 block advantage in the period.

(Note: Play-by-Play for sets three through five are currently unavailable)


After trailing 8-7 at the first technical timeout of the third set, Team USA out-scored ZheJiang 9-4 to reach the second technical timeout leading 16-12. The U.S. maintained the four-point lead at 21-17 before closing out the set 25-22. The U.S. scored 15 points on kills, five on blocks, one via ace and four other points on ZheJiang miscues (three attack errors, one service error).

The fourth set was similar to the third, but in reverse. The U.S. reached the first technical break up 8-7, only to have ZheJiang take a 16-12 advantage into the second break. Team USA cut the deficit in half at 21-19, but could not complete the comeback as ZheJiang won 25-23. Team USA held a 41-31 kill percent advantage in the fourth set, but that was offset by ZheJiang’s serve in the fourth set created five aces and the U.S. gave away four points on its own due to service error.

The tiebreaking fifth set was close until the end. ZheJiang led 5-4 early and the score was tied at 9-all. However, the U.S. outscored ZheJiang 6-1 the rest of the set for a 15-10 victory. Team USA converted eight of its 17 attacks into kills with just one hitting error in the fifth set. The U.S. also put up three blocks in the period to go with two aces.

For additional information on the U.S. Women’s National Team, check the team’s home page at http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/wnthome.asp. To follow the China Tour with all recaps, photo galleries and multimedia pages, view the China Tour page at http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/08ChinaTourHome.asp.

Team USA Tour of China Match Information
March 21: Team USA lost to Tianjin club at Tianjin (25-22, 25-21, 25-21)
March 22: Team USA lost to Tianjin club at WuQing (23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-21, 15-9)
March 24: Team USA def. Chinese Army Club at YiYang (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 26-24)
March 26: Team USA def. Chinese Army Club at ChangShu (23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 21-25, 15-13)
March 28: Team USA def. ZheJiang in Hangzhou (19-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-21 with 11-15 added fifth set)
March 29: Team USA def. ZheJiang in FuYang (15-25, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-10)
April 1: Team USA vs. TBA in Nanjing, Time TBA
April 2: Team USA vs. TBA in Nanjing, Time TBA

U.S. Women’s National Training Team Roster on China Tour
# - Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 - Juliann Faucette (OH, 6-2, San Diego, Calif., Texas)
2 - Destinee Hooker (OH, 6-4, San Antonio, Texas, Texas)
3 - Therese Crawford (OH, 5-11, Kalamazoo, Mich., Hawai'i)
4 - Alix Klineman (OH, 6-4, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Stanford)
5 - Angie Pressey (OH, 5-8, Lake Mary, Fla., California)
6 - Foluke Akinradewo (MB, 6-3, Plantation, Fla., Stanford)
7 - Tracy Stalls (MB, 6-4, Denver, Colo., Nebraska)
9 - Lauren Paolini (MB, 6-5, Ann Arbor, Mich., Texas)
11 - Heather Hughes (OPP, 6-2, Fallbrook, Calif., Loyola Marymount)
13 - Nellie Spicer (S, 5-9, Barrington, Ill., UCLA)
15 - Nicole Davis (L, 5-6, Stockton, Calif., Southern California)
16 - Lindsey Hunter (S, 5-10, Papillion, Neb., Missouri)
17 - Angie McGinnis (S, 5-11, Fraser, Mich., Florida)
18 - Cassie Busse (OPP, 6-1, Prior Lake, Minn., Minnesota)
Head Coach: “Jenny” Lang Ping
Assistant Coaches: Sue Woodstra, Li Yong, Tom Hogan
Technical Coordinator: Diane French

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