We came here to make history and we made it” said U.S coach Karch Kiraly “It was a though battle, but we made it.” In Saturday’s semifinals, the U.S. beat top-ranked Olympic champion Brazil 3-0. Brazil beat Italy 25-15, 25-14, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7 in the bronze match.
With the U.S.A women’s team never winning a championship or the Olympics this is a huge deal. In 1996 and 2001 the Americans finished second in the world championship.
The whole team is very ecstatic. Kimberly Hill the 6-foot-4 from Portland, Oregon had the final kill. The only word she had to say after the game where
“I feel ecstatic and happy and just cannot believe it is real. The award was a surprise and I still cannot believe it either, it is just amazing. Tonight it is everything. Eating, drinking and we are just going to celebrate being together.”
The USA beat China 3-2 in sets, they won the first two sets lost the third and won the fourth with the scores of 27-25, 25-20, 16-25, and 26-24. The Chinese team really gave them a fight for the game. The U.S had it all in the first two sets but China seemed to come back stronger, with a little bit more fight in them and where able to take the third set. With china taking the lead in the fourth set with a 23-19 score, but team USA came back to fight for the championship and took the championship 26-24.
The trophy was quite the present for Captain Christa Dietze as she turned 28 on Sunday. Although she had an injured knee after having knee surgery not too long ago, she still played scoring 15 points and had seven blocks. Hill scored the gold-medal point for Team U.S.A! She was also named the most valuable player of the tournament. Alisha Glass of Leland, Michigan, was honored as the best setter. She had 36 running sets, and 53 still sets.
The U.S team had very good sportsmanship and knew that they tried their hardest and deserved this title.
“I would like to congratulated Lang Ping and her team. They played a marvelous tournament. After we got a 2-0 lead we knew China would never give up. It was a battle to the end and they have some great young players, as do we” Coach Kiraly said, “ I hope that we will be playing against each other in the future. It is just good for the sport to have teams with such history performing at a high level.”
Congratulations to everyone who placed in the Women’s World Championship Tournament in Milan, Italy, and congratulations to our U.S.A. Women’s Volleyball 2014-15 Championship team, and Coach Karch Kiraly.
Works Cited
“Team USA Wins First Women’s Volleyball World Crown.” Team USA Wins First Women’s Volleyball World Crown. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
“US Wins First Major Women’s Volleyball Title.” ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
“US Wins First Major Women’s Volleyball Title.” Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 12 Oct. 2014. Web. 15
Oct. 2014.