COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The U.S. Women's Junior National Team lost to Bulgaria 23-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-17 on the second day of FIVB Women's Junior World Championship (Under-20) competition in Tijuana, Mexico.
Team USA, now 0-2 in the World Championship event, concludes the four-team round robin Pool D on Saturday at 8 p.m. Pacific Time against Turkey (1-0, plays Cuba later tonight). The top two teams in each of the four-team pools advance to the winner's pools in the second round.
The U.S. started the match slow and rallied from an 11-4 deficit in the opening set to win 25-23. Bulgaria used a 9-1 run in the second set to assume a 22-13 advantage en route to the 25-18 victory. Trailing 8-6 at the third set's first technical timeout, Bulgaria used a 6-1 run to take a 12-9 advantage and went on to take the stanza 25-17. Bulgaria came back from a deficit of 5-1 in the fourth set and used a 9-0 run to take a commanding 14-7 advantage in putting away the final set 25-17.
"We only had one week of preparation and we still need to improve on the little things," U.S. Women's Junior National Team Head Coach Paula Weishoff said. "The team is getting better under the circumstances and now we are going to play for the 9-12 positions (after tomorrow's final pool match with Turkey)."
Alexis Olgard (Spokane, Wash.) led the U.S. with 11 points on nine kills and two blocks. Amanda Dowdy (Lexington, Texas) chipped in seven kills and three blocks for 10 points, while Morgan Broekhuis (Colorado Springs, Colo.) provided 10 points on nine kills and a block. Alex Hunt (Granger, Ind.) charted eight points via six kills and two blocks, while Hayley Spelman (Las Vegas, Nev.) tallied six kills off the bench. Sara Shaw (Austin, Texas) recorded four kills, followed by Ashleigh McCord's (Wylie, Texas) three points. Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif.) provided two points and Karissa Cook (Santa Cruz, Calif.) rounded out the scoring with a kill.
For the complete press release, visit http://usavolleyball.org/news/article/14402.
