Now we have rather a lot to atone for with our USA ladies’s and males’s Olympic groups after a few-days hiatus to maneuver the VolleyballMag editorial workplaces from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Swampscott, Massachusetts.
So … greetings from New England, the place this space is all fired up over the opportunity of one other Boston Celtics NBA championship.
Since our final report on Friday, the USA ladies have misplaced to Italy — however get one other crack on the Italians later this week — and beat Japan to complete seventh and declare a spot within the Volleyball Nations League finals in Bangkok, Thailand.
And the 12-team ladies’s Olympic discipline is about.
USA males again in motion
First the USA males, who’re in Manila, Philippines, for the third spherical of the boys’s competitors. They stand in twelfth place at 3-5, the identical file as Serbia and Germany, and a recreation again on Canada, Cuba and Argentina. Solely the highest eight groups advance to the finals.
The USA males open play on Wednesday towards Iran. They’ve been off since dropping to Canada on June 8.
Additionally in Manila on Tuesday there may be Netherlands vs. Brazil and Canada vs. Japan. In Ljubljana, Slovenia, Bulgaria play Türkiye and Slovenia performs Argentina.
In subsequent matches, the USA males play Brazil, Germany and Japan, so clearly the chance to get into the highest eight is there.
USA ladies advance
The USA ladies misplaced to Italy 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21 on Saturday however then secured their spot within the final spherical with a 25-15, 25-18, 26-24 victory over Japan.
Brazil was the one staff to go unbeaten within the three rounds, ending 12-0. Italy and Poland have been 10-2, and China was fourth at 9-3.
Japan completed fifth at 8-4, simply forward of Türkiye, additionally 8-4. The USA was one in every of three groups at 7-5, adopted by the Netherlands and Canada.
The Dominican Republic, Serbia, Germany and Thailand all went 3-9, and France, Korea and Bulgaria completed 2-10.
Towards Italy, the USA’s first VNL finals foe on Friday in Bangkok, the People couldn’t include Paola Egonu, who had 21 kills, a block and an ace.
Annie Drews, one in every of 10 People to see the court docket, led the USA with 13 kills, Jordan Thompson had 11 and a block, and Kelsey Prepare dinner had six kills and an ace. Haleigh Washington added three kills, three blocks and an ace. Chiaka Ogbogu had seven kills, Avery Skinner six, and Jordan Larson 5 and a block. Dana Rettke added two kills, a block and the staff’s different ace.
Confronted with a must-win towards Japan, enjoying at dwelling in Fukuoka and earlier than a crowd estimated at 7,600, Drews got here up huge once more. Drews, who performed for JT Marvelous in Japan, had 13 kills with just one error in 28 assaults.
Skinner had 11 kills and two blocks and different outdoors, Larson, had 10 kills, a block and an ace.
Anna Corridor, getting a begin at center, had 9 kills and two blocks, and the opposite center, Washington, had 4 kills and two blocks. Lauren Carlini set however Micha Hancock had two aces. Libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 20 digs.
Girls’s Olympics discipline set
The USA ladies certified for the Paris Olympics final 12 months however 5 spots have been nonetheless up for grabs heading into Volleyball Nations League.
The sector is now set with Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Türkiye.
Learn all concerning the discipline and the way every bought their respective bids right here.
