USA gold medal match
By Cindy Luis
Didn’t really want to post since some will be watching the tape delay in a few hours
so stop reading if you don’t want to know. The Wahine were watching this morning as a team after breakfast on the internet feed.
As many of you have said, feel very sorry for Berg and Tom, especially since they had gone undefeated in Olympic play and Brazil barely got into the medal round
From USAV
The top-ranked U.S. Olympic Women’s Volleyball Team fell one victory shy of winning its first-ever Olympic Games gold-medal for the second quadrennial in a row in an 11-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17 loss to No. 2 Brazil Saturday in the title match at Earls Court in London.
The U.S. Women finished the tournament with a 7-1 record and 30-2 record in 2012. Brazil, which was on the verge of not qualifying for the quarterfinals heading into the final pool day, finished with a 6-2 record in defending its 2008 Olympic Games title in a gold-medal rematch with the Americans. In the process, Brazil snapped a six-match losing streak to the United States dating back to 2011.
The U.S. was playing in its third Olympic Games title match, only to have golden dreams dashed for silver in losses to Brazil at the 2008 Beijing Games and to China at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Team USA now has four overall Olympic women’s volleyball medals that include a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
At the 2008 Olympic Games, Brazil won its first-ever women’s volleyball gold-medal over the Americans as the top seed and favorite to win, while the U.S. entered the Olympics as a dark horse to win a medal. In 2012, Team USA was the favorite to win its first-ever gold.
Miyashiro didn’t play. Berg with 2 points on a block and a kill.
Wonder who takes over the US women with McCutcheon gong to Minnesota? Or perhaps I missed an announcement.
Volleyshots
Miyashiro did play. She served out at the end of the second set.
Thank you. The box didn’t list Miyashiro. I didn’t see the match.
Brazil got hot at the end of the Games…Tough break. USA Women’s habit of falling behind & catching up in the 20′s came back to haunt them…
I feel bad for Heather Bown. Harmotto was not ready for primetime and it really showed.
I didn’t have a chance to watch the match live only whatever little they showed at night. I realize that some fans were unhappy when Heather Bown and Alicia Glass did not make the team. I will always wonder if Stacy Sykora could have made a difference as she was the best libero. Unfortunately a bus accident injured her head making her unavailable for the Olympics. I checked reception stats, and Nicole Davis (our libero) had lower reception stats than most Brazilians in the team. Perhaps a few better passes might have made a difference. I’ll never know, though. Maybe someone who saw the match live can comment on how USA team unraveled here.
Brazil won it with their defense, they let nothing hit the ground, it was beautiful to watch there back row. Here in the USA we just do not play the back row as smart as other Countries, it is almost an after thought and it caught up to the USA team in the Gold Medal round.
I am thrilled there are now 15 subs per set, it is more exciting for the viewers to have longer rallies since the defense can be filled with specialists. You can notice that the Big West rosters have more DS then in years prior to make the most of this change in subs. Going to be a great year to watch! Cindy keep the info on the defense coming!
I also enjoy long rallies but the 15 subs per set will further reduce the emphasis of developing six rotation players. The increase of subs from 8 to 12, the creation of the libero position, and now the additional 3 subs has changed the strategy of the sport. Might as well go on to substitutions as in basketball.
I finally got to watch the whole match replay on the Internet. I was correct in my assessment about the libero but she was not the only factor. Brazil’s tough serves got USA out of its system and then there was poor communication so they didn’t play like a team. Also, the coach didn’t give enough good advice about more effective communication so the whole system broke down. All in all, multiple factors caused a breakdown. Still, it was interesting to watch.