COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 27, 2010) - Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) totaled a match-high 23 points to help the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team defeat Brazil 22-25, 25-19, 30-28, 17-25, 15-13 on Friday afternoon during the third day of 18th FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round competition in Ningbo, China. Brazil, the reigning Olympic Games champion, is the two-time defending FIVB World Grand Prix champions and has won the event eight times.
Team USA, now 3-0 in the Final Round with seven points and on an overall nine-match win streak, faces host China on Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. (4:30 a.m. Pacific Time) in next match. The Americans conclude the Final Round on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. (11 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 28). USA is the only undefeated team in the Final Round as it defeated Poland in five sets on Aug. 25 and Italy in three sets on Aug. 26.
Brazil, which went 8-1 during the nine-match World Grand Prix preliminary round to earn the top spot, is now 1-2 in the Final Round with five points in the standings. The FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round is a five-day, six-team round-robin event being played Aug. 25-29.
Since the 2008 Olympic Games gold-medal match in which Brazil defeated the U.S. in four sets, the teams have now faced each other five times. Brazil won all four meetings in 2009. In September 2010, the U.S. will embark on a friendly training tour of Brazil. Entering this year's Final Round, Brazil had won eight of 12 previous World Grand Prix matches with the United States. Team USA had last defeated Brazil in a pre-Olympic exhibition match on June 13, 2008. The last time the U.S. defeated Brazil in an FIVB event was a five-set match during the 2007 FIVB World Cup. Although specifics have not been set such as cities and dates, the plan is for the U.S. to tour Brazil in four exhibition matches between Sept. 20 and Sept. 30.
Brazil used a 6-1 scoring run to comeback from a 13-11 deficit in the opening set to win 25-22. Team USA evened the match with a 25-19 victory in the second set in which it used a 5-0 scoring run to gain a 12-6 advantage and benefited from eight Brazil errors. Despite opening the third set with a 4-0 lead, the U.S. needed to rally from a 16-13 deficit and overcome two sets points to win 30-28 on its fourth set attempt. Brazil evened the match with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set in which it broke a 7-all tie with three unanswered points and never trailed after that point. The tiebreaking set was tied seven times and the Americans broke the final tie at 13-all with by scoring the final two points. Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas), who served an ace on set point to win the marathon third-set, scored four of her 18 points in the final period to help Team USA to the victory.
"It was a very difficult match," U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said. "Both teams played hard. There are some great hits, some great rallies. It was very close. I'm very happy, but we understand that we have a lot to do. Brazil taught us a lot tonight."
Akinradewo reached her match total with 16 kills on 28 attempts and team-leading seven blocks. She converted 57.1 percent of her attacks as part of a .536 hitting efficiency. Hooker, who had just four points after the second set, charted 17 kills on 45 swings and an ace in the victory. Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) charted 14 kills on a team-high 50 attacks and two blocks for 16 points. Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) added 11 kills on 26 attacks, four blocks and an ace for 16 points. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) was credited with eight kills and an ace for nine points. Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) charted two kills and a block for three points. Ogonna Nnamani (Bloomington, Ill.) rounded out the scoring with a kill.
For the complete press release, visit usavolleyball.org/news/article/38258< title=blocked::https://www.usavolleyball.info/eNewsletterPro/t.aspx?S=1&ID=1489&NL=8&N=1471&SI=110526&URL=http://usavolleyball.org/news/2010/08/27/u-s-women-edge-brazil-in-grand-prix-final-round/38258 a>.
