COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 22, 2010) - Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) scored a personal international career-high 25 points in leading the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team to a 25-20, 25-10, 22-25, 25-22 victory over China on Sunday afternoon during Pool G of the 18th World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
Team USA, which finished the three-weekend, nine-match preliminary round with a 7-2 record and in second place, moves on to the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round set for Aug. 25-29 at Ningbo, China. China finished the preliminary round with a 6-3 record and will also compete in the Final Round.
The Final Round, which the U.S. qualified for after the seventh preliminary match, is a six-team round-robin format.
Team USA, which has reached the medal podium in both its earlier tournaments in 2010, has not played in the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round since 2008 when it finished fourth. The Americans, who have won six straight matches in this year's World Grand Prix, have not reached the World Grand Prix podium since bronze medal finishes in 2003 and 2004. The U.S. won the World Grand Prix in 1995 and 2001, its only other podium finishes.
Brazil finished the preliminary round in first place with an 8-1 record and 24 points, followed by the Americans in second place. Poland finished with an identical 7-2 record and 21 points as the United States, but finished third due to a lower point scored ratio. Japan, Italy and China all finished with 6-3 record and 19 points, but Japan held the point ratio advantage to gain fourth place followed by Italy in fifth place and China in sixth place. During the preliminary round, the U.S. defeated Final Round participants China and Italy, while losing to Poland.
The U.S. used a key 6-2 scoring run in the opening set to grab a 16-11 advantage and went on to win 25-20 with four blocks in the set. Team USA produced an 11-2 scoring run to reach a 15-5 advantage in the second set and cruised to a 25-10 victory. The U.S. rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the third set, but China came back from a 16-10 deficit to win 25-21 thanks to scoring eight of the final 10 points of the frame. Team USA battled back from a 20-17 deficit in the fourth set by winning the final eight of 10 points to win 25-22.
"We expected a difficult game and China did not disappoint us," U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said. "They started a bit slow today, but set three and set four were a real battle. Our athletes are very happy to play against such great player. Both teams are of a close caliber. The large and cheering fans gave us certain pressure. It is a different, but the team needs to learn to adapt. But it would be good preparation for next week in Ningbo. We will meet again next week in the finals; the winner of next match depends on which team performs better."
Hooker tallied 20 kills on 44 attacks with a 45.5 kill percent, three blocks and two aces to reach her 25 points. Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) chipped in 11 kills on 18 swings, four blocks and an ace for 16 points. Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) charted nine kills on 16 attacks and three blocks for 12 points. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) contributed eight kills on 18 attacks, one block and an ace for 10 points. Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) added five kills and three aces for eight points, while Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) rounded out the scoring with two kills, a block and an ace for four points from her setter position.
For the complete press release, visit usavolleyball.org/news/article/38113.
