(Photo by Hui Zhang)
Volleyball opens with win against Russiaby Rachel Benedict on September 6, 2009 Moments before the U.S. Women's Volleyball Team made its debut at the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics, rookie Paige Johnson had a wardrobe malfunction: a missing shoe. When the team went to Taipei Gymnasium's locker room to change before Sunday's game, Johnson couldn't find her right shoe. Team manager Colleen Farrell had to take a round-trip cab ride totaling a little more than an hour to Miramar Garden Taipei Hotel to pick up the missing shoe so Johnson could play. A rookie mistake, indeed. "Apparently the shoe walked out of my bag," Johnson said. "It could have happened to anybody, but unfortunately it had to be me." After the missing shoe arrived, the Americans went on with the match. The mishap didn't distract the team from dealing the Russians a 3-0 loss. Once the first serve made its way over the net, setter Pia Marie Paulone found hitter Valerie Trofimenkoff, who made a quick kill. On the next two serves, hitter Tamara Foronda took charge with two kills and a block to set a tone that lasted the entire match. Paulone had no problems finding her hitters throughout the match, and she tallied about eleven assists each set as well as two aces. The U.S. found itself up, 8-3, when, during a hard-fought rally, libero Shana Lehmann put herself in the right places at the right times with two straight digs. She totaled ten digs. A few errors by the Americans brought Russia to a one-point deficit, 9-8. However, once hitter Katelyn Reese rotated to the serving position, the U.S. went on a six-point run. "Two main elements today for us that we really mastered were serving and defense," Coach Lynn Ray Boren said. Serving was an essential part of the win today, he added. Near the end of the first set, Boren was able to make some substitutions that included Amanda Krieger and Justine Jeter in the back row. Hitter Kristina Burke delivered a banging kill to end the set at 25-17. The second set began with a 4-0 run from the Americans that forced the Russians to call a time out. The Americans' consistent defense gave the hitters plentiful opportunities on which they capitalized to put the U.S. ahead for good, 21-11. The Russians slowly earned points and saw a 22-15 deficit before a time out was called. The Americans quickly ended the set at 25-16 with an ace by Jenny Cooper. The team totaled nine aces. Burke notched three, along with seven digs. "We played clean, had great defense and excelled at serve receiving," Lehmann said. Lehmann passed a 2.4 serve receiving rate along with another 2.4 from Kristina Burke. The team rated at 2.17 on a 4.0 scale. A rate at least of 2.0 is considered good. Nothing changed for the Americans in the third set as they continued to exploit the scoreboard, opening the set at 10-2 before the Russians called a time out. When play resumed, the U.S. immediately answered with a kill from Foronda, an ace by Paulone and a kill and a block by Trofimenkoff, taking the lead to 15-2. "Our middle hitters, Trofimenkoff and Reese, were able to pull the Russian blockers away from our outside hitters, and that really helped them," Krieger said. The squad, led by Paulone, continued to click before back-up setter Krystle Berrigan came in to finish the set at 25-8. With Berrigan's entrance, the entire team played in the match. Foronda finished with 11 kills, and Burke and Trofimenkoff with eight each. "We dominated the game," Lehmann said. Monday, the team will play Italy, who lost to Japan, 3-0, on Sunday. "We need to play clean and execute our game plan," Krieger said of Monday's game against Italy. |
 (Photo by Hui Zhang)
 (Photo by Hui Zhang)
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