The U.S. Women's Junior National Team won their 1st round match against Belgium tonight, 25-21, 25-18, 25-16. USA-Belgium Round 1 Haley Eckerman was USA's top scorer with 15 points. Hannah Allison was the starting setter in all three sets. The other setter, Lauren Plum, subbed in each set, but Hannah set most of the balls, with 65 set attempts versus 7 for Lauren. Hannah also had 9 digs and an ace. Yikes, that's almost as many digs as the libero had, Natalie Hagglund with 11 digs. Stats 1 Stats 2 Link to the post-match press conference: post-match Way to go USA and Horns! USA Haley pounding one USA Celebrates
Cant wait for the season to start! Texas really has a lot of good players that are young. Eckerman and Bell OMG
USA defeats Poland US is through to next round regardless of what happens today against Korea. Eckerman is leading the US in points.
Yes, Haley is playing very well. She hit .591 against Belgium and .423 against Poland. Madelyn Hutson saw action as well against Poland, got a couple kills, a block, an ace, and 5 digs. I think she's been watching Jen Doris play D. Interestingly, against Poland they started the other setter, Lauren Plum, and Hannah Allison subbed in. But the team hit a very nice .430 when Hannah started, and "only" .369 when the other setter started. And Hannah had a lot more digs. Be interesting to see if they go back to Hannah starting against Korea. Here is s nice photo of the USA celebrating, with Haley Eckerman and Madelyn Hutson (#15). USA
I'm guessing that Haley is OH2 and Reeves is OH1? If it's true, then that's interesting! She's #1 in hitting efficiency so far in the tournament, she's the top point scorer and has the most kills for the team! And while being the OH2???
Follow live the Junior Championship.We got a good 1 in Eckerman She show up, and show out today against Brazil. Allison came in and did a good job setting.To get the USA in the game. Its going to be tough to keep her out of the starting lineup. Hookem'
After seeing Eckerman's performance in that match against Brazil, I think she will be in the starting line-up but subbed out of the backrow with the Libero. With a year of experience on serve-receive, Sha'dare and Sarah will most likely handle most of the passing duties. I suppose they will try to develop a third passer in Bannister, Roberson, Eckerman, or Bell. Bannister seems like the most likely candidate, especially with the experience she gained playing with the USA A2 team. I see Bell probably starting off at MB over Hutson and Cameron. And with Bailey most likely playing on the right (who will also get subbed out in the back row), that last spot will be between Roberson and Eckerman. Roberson performed well last year but she is still questionable since having surgery, which opens that spot up for Eckerman. My starting line-up looks like this: OH- Bannister/Eckerman MB- Adams/Bell Opp- McNeal/Webster Setter- Kocher/Allison (subbing in for MBs) Libero: Palmer (subbing in Eckerman/Webster) The only thing I don't like about this line-up is not having a deadly backrow attacker in Bannister and McNeal (I miss seeing Hooker hitting from back there). But with that line-up in the front row, the backrow attack may just be relegated to the 4th attacking option anyway. I'd personally rather have good passing and strong backrow defense.
So, I was super proud of the Junior National Team for their result in Peru. They tied for 4th, and apparently no previous U.S. team has ever done better. The U.S. girls had 10 days to practice together; in comparison the team from Brazil, who we played in the semi's, has played together for 4 years. One of our best players was injured, another was sick, and still the U.S. made it to the semi's. Hannah Allison was put in against Brazil when the U.S. was losing the 1st set 12-21, and looking, well, pretty horrible. They lost that set, but played better the 2nd. Then they won the 3rd, and then the 4th. Incredible turn-around, ala UCLA. They fell just short, 14-16 in the 5th, but still a great comeback. Besides her setting and athletic gifts, Hannah seems to bring an energy and positive attitude that is uplifting. It's not fair to expect her to always wave a magic wand, but it's clear she's pretty special. Haley Eckerman was 3rd in kills out of the whole 16-team tournament. She rocked it. Madelyn Hutson's best match was against Peru, when she had 14 kills on 24 swings, so that's pretty awesome. We have to take our hats off to their hard work. They trained in California July 10-19, then played in Peru July 20-31. You know they came home beat, and had to head right to another practice court, since UT's scrimmage is in a couple weeks, and first match right after. That's dedication. Check out this picture, which includes our three Longhorns: U.S.A. These young ladies look like good representatives of the U.S.A. to me!
Hey! Cool video interview with Ashley Engle. Ashley Engle She says she is training with the U.S. National team. Such an awesome player. I still feel she'll play on the National team and represent the U.S., if not indoors, then on the sand.
To me Ashley started it all, once she committed the flood gates were open During the interview she was asked "What position do you want to play?" Answer: "Doesn't matter all I want to do is win". But on a side note her counterpart Destinee led all scorers with 17 points on 15 kills via 32 attacks and one error, one block and one ace. During U.S. Volleyball down Germany at FIVB World Grand Prix VB players who went into the pros RECENT LONGHORNS IN THE PROS 2004 Mira Topic (Turkey, Germany) 2006 Dariam Acevedo (FIVB Beach Circuit) 2006 Jennifer Todd (Switzerland, France, Spain) 2007 Michelle Moriarty (Switzerland, USA Beach Volleyball, Spain) 2007 Brandy Magee (Puerto Rico, Spain) 2008 Lauren Paolini (Italy) 2008 Kiley Hall (Switzerland, The Netherlands) 2009 Ashley Engle (Azerbaijan) 2009 Destinee Hooker (South Korea, Puerto Rico, Italy) 2009 Heather Kisner (Azerbaijan) 2010 Jennifer Doris (Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan) 2010 Juliann Faucette (Italy)
An update on UT alumni playing in the pro's. Lots of the girls are playing in Italy: - Juliann Faucette at Chateau D'Ax Urbino (Juliann's team) - Lauran Paolini at Icos Crema (Lauren's team) - Ashley Engle at Rota Volley Mercato San Severino (Ashley's team) Lindsey Berg, Nicole Davis, Kristin Richards, Carli Lloyd, Sarah Pavan, Alix Klineman, Christa Harmotto, and Cynthia Barboza also all playing with other of these Italian teams. Haven't seen anything new on Heather Kisner.
Lauran Paolini Youtube 30 Jun interview by an Italian reporter Destinee Rox VB pics Michelle Moriarty Rox VB pic
