U.S. Women Fall to Turkey in World Grand Prix Opener

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 20, 2008) - The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team lost to Turkey 28-26, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19 on Friday afternoon to open the FIVB World Grand Prix at Kobe, Japan.

Team USA at Kobe, Japan. Front row left to right: Cynthia Barboza, Kristin Richards, Angie McGinnis, Nicole Davis, Lindsey Berg. Back row left to right: Foluke Akinradewo, Danielle Scott-Arruda, Kim Glass, Heather Bown, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Jennifer Joines, Kim Willoughby. Photo courtesy of FIVB.

Team USA, ranked fourth in the world but without the services of two two-time Olympian players (Logan Tom and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos) this weekend, challenges Kazakhstan on Saturday at 3 p.m. (midnight Mountain Time), followed by a June 22 match against host Japan at 6 p.m. (3 a.m. Mountain Time).

The FIVB World Grand Prix includes three preliminary round weekends with three different sites each weekend hosting round-robin events of four teams. The World Grand Prix Finals, a round-robin format of the top five teams from the preliminary round plus host Japan, will be played July 9-13 at Yokohoma, Japan. The overall ranking in the preliminary rounds is decided by the total number of World Grand Prix Points (GPP) gained by the teams in the preliminary matches with two points awarded for a win and one point for a loss.

Turkey came back from an 18-15 deficit in the opening set to win 28-26 as the lead changed hands 12 times. Turkey followed up the last three points of the opening set with a 7-0 start to the second set en route to a commanding 25-16 victory. Team USA recovered from a 5-1 deficit in the third set and used a 4-1 run to take a 21-17 advantage en route to winning 25-21. Turkey scored the first four points of the fourth set, and withstood the U.S. clawing back to within 15-14 to win 25-19.

"I would like to congratulate Turkey," U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach 'Jenny' Lang Ping said. "They played very well. For a young team they did not play like a young team -- they played pretty well! Our game plan was to focus on ourselves because we just got together for a very short time and did not train very consistently. Everyone came with a different physical condition. We can use this tournament as training. We are waiting for the players to get stronger and get better again."

Danielle Scott-Arruda (Baton Rouge, La.) and Kim Glass (Lancaster, Pa.) each tallied 14 points for the USA. Scott-Arruda picked up 13 kills and a block, while Glass added 11 kills, two blocks and an ace. Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Laguna Hills, Calif.) turned in seven kills and a block off the bench, while Kim Willoughby (Napoleonville, La.) charted six kills, a block and ace in just the first two sets. Jennifer Joines (Milpitas, Calif.) tacked on five kills and two blocks in just the final three sets. Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.) contributed two kills and a team-high three blocks for five points. Kristin Richards (Orem, Utah) provided two kills and an ace in the loss, while Bown scored two kills in just the opening set. Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) and Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) rounded out the scoring with an ace apiece. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) totaled six digs and provided 10 excellent service receptions on 22 attempts. Lindsey Berg handed out 16 assists.