Tokyo Olympics Volleyball - Links, News, Gold!!!!!!

Here’s a link to the highlights from the gold medal match. Just click “watch on YouTube.” Not sure why it won’t display the thumbnail.

I really enjoyed watching this version of the USWNT. They were carried by Jordan Thompson for the first 3 1/2 matches. Then Annie Drews took over. Poulter goes down and Micah comes in and does a better job. Then, surprising to me seeing how good Micah had played, Karch puts Poulter back in MUCH sooner than I would have expected. (The trainers did a miraculous job getting her back in such a short time.) Course, that shows what I know. Poulter started connecting with the middles and the team went up from there. (Sunderland, I think, asked Barnett, "Do you think that the time spent on the bench watching the game helped Poulter?" and Barnett replied, "I don't think a sprained ankle helps anyone!" I so enjoyed listening to Sunderland and Barnett. They are both so knowledgeable and really entertaining.")

The depth of the US team really won them this championship. Micah came in and played well; Annie Drews came in and played just about as good as Jordan Thompson. Wong-Orantes played superlatively; receiving well and getting balls up that looked for sure that they were kills. The passing was great for the US. Wong-Orantes perfect pass percentage was 74%, Larson's was 73% and Barsch-Hackley was 72.96%. (These aren't the final stats but were during the Serbia match). With that type of passing, it was surprising that Poulter wasn't connecting with the middles. But, to Poulter's credit, she started connecting with the middles in the Serbia match and had a good connection in the Brazil match.

It was amazing the way the US demolished Serbia and Brazil. Karch had a plan for Boskovic and it worked. She hit way under her average. It was interesting to see the 4 US players defending her. They were in the far opposite corner as she seldom hits short. Brazil seemed to be tight most of the match. It didn't hurt that the US had beaten them in the VNL finals 3-1. I don't think that Brazil thought that they could beat the US. The Italian opposite had a very rough Olympics and wasn't connecting most of the Olympics. The emotion and the overall comradery was amazing. The culture that Karch has built is really amazing; everybody was encouraging everybody. I just wish that the women's soccer team could build that same type of culture.

This US volleyball team reminded me of the US women's water polo team. They were beaten for the first time in 3 Olympics by a team (Hungary). They then had a difficult match against the ROC team in the semis. They came back against the Spanish team and demolished them 14-5, which was the biggest score differential in women's Olympic history.

Some disappointments in swimming and track & field were offset by some marvelous surprises; Bobby Finke winning the 800 and 1500 in swimming; watching Katie Ladecke win the 800 and 1500; Caleb Dressel winning the 100 meter free; the US taking Gold in golf by both the men and women to name just a few. (The final round of the women's golf was really good. Nelly Korda showed a lot of mental toughness to win, especially after getting a double bogie in the 6 or 7 hole).

It was also fun to see some of the people from small countries get medals that have never happened before; Phillipines, San Marino. All in all, a very enjoyable couple of weeks.

End of the epistle.

I didn't mention Jordan Larson. Even tho she had some games where here hitting wasn't the greatest her overall play, fueled by her high volleyball IQ, added a lot to the US team.
She made a play in one of the matches where the ball being passed ended up about 2-3 feet from the left sideline and neither the setter or Wong-Orantes would be able to get there. Larson was on the right side, saw early on what the situation was and got to the ball in time to put up a decent set.

Reminds me of a game in the VNL where the US got caught by a tip and it hit the floor. The announcer mentioned this and the woman doing color started laughing. She said, "Karch didn't miss it. He was yelling Tip! Tip! right away. He knew the opposing player was going to tip before the player knew it!" His volleyball IQ is so high. Sort of like the quip about John MacEnroe. The best doubles team is MacEnroe and whoever he's playing with. The best beach volleyball pair was Karch and whoever he was playing with.

Haleigh Washington had a great Olympics also. Her blocking has improved dramatically from the PSU days. Sunderland had a funny comment about Washington. He said that Washington may have met her match in celebration in the Turkey opposite Karakurt. Another funny comment was at the very end of the Brazil match, Washington was asked about the "grit and grinding" actions during the match. She said it was very clinical grit and grinding which made everybody on the team laugh, as that's the last thing someone would use to describe Washington on the volleyball court. She's very quick witted.

The new version of the US team is gonna be interesting as Larson will be gone and I think Akenradewo will also be gone. Barsch-Hackley will be 34 at the next Olympics so she may or may not be there. From what I can see, the biggest hit will be serve receive. Kelsey Robinson will be a pretty good replacement, but the overall high quality of Larson's play will definitely be missed.