The U.S. Women V-Ballers got Silver (Italy-Gold and Brazil-Bronze) and our Men got Bronze (France-Gold and Poland-Silver); not bad considering the level of competition, but maybe just a little disappointing. The U.S. Women were down and up and down again, losing their first match to China, coming back to beat good Poland and good Brazil teams, and then getting smoked 0-3 by Italy in the finals. The Men looked unbeatable in pool-play and vs Brazil in the quarters , before losing a 5-set match they should have won to Poland in the Semis. (Poland started the match missing one of their starting middles, part-way through, their starting setter went down and had to be replaced, then their only Libero injured his right arm and had to play the rest of the way one-handed.)
Men’s play, generally, was dominated by aggressive serving. Every team missed a ton of serves, but aggressive serving is a risk you have to take because a soft serve results in a perfect pass, a perfect set, and an almost unstoppable spike. A block once in a while, but almost never a dig. More long volleys in the Women’s game, making it more fun to watch. A lot of dependence on the middle hitters in the Men’s game, and the U.S. pair played well.
The U.S. Women played a 5-1 roughly half the time (when I was watching), and a 6-2 the other half. I had bad-mouthed former Badger and our #2 setter Lauren Carlini, based mostly on the fact that she can’t block; but In the 6-2, your setter doesn’t block; and she is a terrific digger. Former Edina High star Jordan Thompson was our #2 Opposite. Thompson and Carlini, generally on the floor at the same time, both played roughly 25% of the time, and were okay. Former Boilermaker Annie Drews, our #1 Opposite was the best player on the team (in my opinion), but not as good as the Italian Opposite, who dominated. Libero and former Husker Justine Wong-Orantes was also very good. The other former Badger, Dana Rettke, never saw the court (that I saw), despite being the tallest player on the team, and despite the Italians overpowering us with their height (just sayin’). Coach Kiraly subbed quickly when his starters weren’t effective — maybe too quickly, vs giving his best players a chance to work through it?
OTHER STUFF:
- I didn’t follow the BeachBall, but I think it was Brazil-Gold & Canada-Silver in Women’s.
- In Water Polo, which I did follow, it was Serbia-Gold & Croatia-Silver in Men’s and Spain-Gold & Australia-Silver in Women’s. (Tie-games now resolved with shootouts? Trying to compete with Soccer for the most boring sport?)
- Watched a ton of other stuff (you don’t get to do this when attending in person), including track (lot of exciting finishes), swimming, basketball (3 on 3 didn’t thrill me), ping pong, cycling, wrestling, etc.
- My favorite moment was Cuban 120kg Wrestler Mijaín López Núñez winning his 5th Gold Medal in this event (first athlete in history) and then retiring. (I’m a sucker for stuff like this.)
- Too much Snoop Dogg and Tom Cruz for my taste.
- See you in L.A.