COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 9, 2008) – The U.S. Sitting Women’s Volleyball Team suffered its first setback of the 2008 Paralympic Games on Tuesday, falling to top-ranked China, 25-14, 25-21, 25-19 in 1 hour, 10 minutes in front of 4,000 screaming fans at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium in Beijing.
The U.S. Sitting Women fall to 1-1 in the preliminary round and must get ready to face Latvia (0-2) at 1:30 p.m. (Beijing time) on Wednesday in their final preliminary match. At the end of pool play, the first- and second-ranked teams from each pool will ascend to the semifinals, while the third- and fourth-ranked teams from each pool will play classification matches for fifth through eighth places.
With the victory, China improved to 3-0.
“We had a hard time putting together our game plan and executing it,” said U.S. team captain Brenda Maymon. (Sellersberg, Ind.) “I think it was mostly nerves.”
Added Head Coach Mike Hulett (Chicago, Ill.), “We definitely started slow. We tipped a lot of balls high, but we did finally start playing better.”
Katie Holloway (Lake Steven, Wash.) led the United States in scoring for the second match in a row with 12 points on eight kills and a match-high four blocks. Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.) added 10 points on seven kills and three blocks.
China’s powerful Yuhong Sheng led all scorers with 25 points on 23 kills, one block and one serve. China also took advantage of 22 U.S. team errors, while committing only 15.
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