USA Women?s National Volleyball Team Captures Gold Medal

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: USA Women?s National Volleyball Team Captures Gold Medal : MACAU, CHINA ? The USA Women?s National Volleyball Team captured the gold : medal at the 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix for the first time since 1995 : Sunday afternoon. Team USA cruised to a stunning four set victory over : home-standing China (26-28, 25-20, 25-21, 25-11) in front of over 5,500 : fans to put the Americans on top of the volleyball world. : USA veteran middle blocker Danielle Scott (Baton Rouge, La./Long Beach : State) was named tournament MVP and best blocker after scoring 22 points : (17 kills, five blocks) in the US victory. : ?Wow!? said Scott following the win. ?That was a great win for the USA : over China in China. Even though the gym was filled to capacity, one : could hear a pin drop as USA rallied together play after play. It was a : huge team win and I feel excited and blessed to have been a part of it.? : USA head coach Toshiaki Yoshida celebrated his first major international : championship as head coach of team. Yoshida took over the position : following the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games when then head coach Mick Haley : departed for the University of Southern California. Yoshida served as an : assistant under Haley at the Games. The significance of the championship : was not lost on Yoshida, but he knows his team must get back work. : ?We played with a lot of energy, soul, and spirit tonight,? said : Yoshida. ?Our blocking was good and we played exceptional defense. We : had the right players and the appropriate training for this tournament. : However, this is just the start of the quadrennial and we need to : maintain this level. We still have a lot of room to improve. I know : things are going to get more difficult and all of the teams are going to : improve. We have many issues to solve such as players going overseas and : athlete support, but this was a great win for this team. We have to : learn from this win. We need to keep these veterans and continue to : train like we have been doing.? : USA libero Stacy Sykora (Burleson, Texas/Texas A&M) was named the : tournament?s best libero. She says it was a great feeling to climb on : the medal stand. : ?It is the greatest feeling to finally be on the winner's stand,? said : Sykora. This team has been through so much together. It is nice to : finally see how much all the hard work can pay off. We won tonight : because we played as a team. It was not the result of one or two : players. Everyone contributed.? : USA outside hitter Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah/Stanford Univ.) added : 14 kills and two blocks in the victory, while middle blocker Heather Bown : (Yorba Linda, Calif./Univ. of Hawai?i) contributed 10 kills and three : blocks. : Brent Buzbee : Manager, Communications & Technology : USA Volleyball : 715 S. Circle Dr. : Colorado Springs, CO 80910 : (719) 228-6800 : (719) 228-6813 - Fax : brent.buzbee@usav.org : www.usavolleyball.org

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