Women’s Junior World Championship Qualification
Mexico, May 24-28, 2001

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - The USA Women's Junior National Volleyball Team qualified for the 2001 Junior World Championships thanks to their third place finish at the 2001 Women's Junior World Championship Intercontinental Qualification Tournament in Monterrey, Mexico, May 24-28. This tournament was the final opportunity for the team to gain a bid to the Women's Junior World Championships, which will take place in the Dominican Republic from September 1-9, 2001.

The USA Women's Junior National Team defeated Mexico 3-1 in their final match, Monday, May 28 to finish 3rd out of six teams at the World Championship Qualifier. Their finish was good enough to capture the 3rd and final bid to the 2000 Junior World Championships. USA outlasted Mexico 25-21; 32-34; 25-23; 25-18. Team USA pretty much controlled Game 1 from the outset. Such was also the case for most of Game 2 until Mexico made a late charge to send the game beyond the typical 25-point final score before ultimately capturing the game 32-34. Riding the emotional high from Game 2, Mexico jumped to leads of 8-1 and 16-9 in Game 3 before the USA made a late charge of their own to prevail. Mexico was simply out of gas and didn't prove much of a threat throughout Game 4 securing the match for USA. USA started the match with Toni Anderson (setter); Katy Olsovsky and Allyn Rebholz (middle); Anna Schrad (opposite); Keao Burdine and April Ross (left); and Melissa Villaroman (libero). Alicia Robinson entered Game 3 midway through to spark the turnaround.

For Team USA, this was easily their best performance of the tournament and the statistics supported this: Team attack %: .350; Team reception: 2.42; Team ace/error ratio: 7:6. Individual leaders: Attack %: Olsovsky: .444 (8 kills, 4 errors, 9 attempts); Anna Schrad .370 (15 kills, 5 errors, 27 attempts); April Ross .357 (21 kills, 6 errors, 42 attempts); and Alicia Robinson .357 (6 kills, 1 error, 14 attempts); Service Aces: Toni Anderson - 4; Serve Receive: Melissa Villaroman 2.53; Anna Schrad 2.50; April Ross 2.43.

The USA Women's Junior National Team dropped Sunday night's (May 27) match to Venezuela, 28-26; 21-25; 25-22; 25-20. Although the team received serve at a 2.20 clip, untimely errors spelled their demise. The starting line up for Sunday was, Anderson (setter); Schrad (opposite); Olsovsky and Rebholz (middle); Burdine and Ross (outside); and Villaroman in the middle.

Statistical leaders for Sunday's match were: Kills: April Ross (15) and Allyne Rebholz (10); Attack %: Katy Olsovsky .533 (8 kills, 0 errors, 15 attempts); Rebholz .529 (10 kills, 1 error, 17 attempts); Serve Reception: Ross (2.31) and Anna Schrad (2.24).

The U.S. Women's Junior National Team stumbled slightly in losing 3-1 (25-22; 25-17; 19-25; 25-19) to Argentina on Friday night, May 25 in their second match. But, by taking one game it assured the team of finishing at least second in Group B comprised of three teams.

With three bids to the World Championships at stake, it was critical that the team complete pool play in one of the top two positions, which it did. In Friday's match, USA started w/ Anderson (setter); Schrad (opposite); Robinson (left); Fendrick (left); Ross (middle); Rebholz (middle); and Villaroman (libero). USA jumped to an early, but lost it due to an overall lack of ball control and consistency. Although the line up was altered in Game 2 as Coach Deitre Collins moved April Ross to the outside in replacement of Lauren Fendrick and brought Katy Olsovsky into a middle position, it didn't matter much as USA started the set with 6 consecutive attack errors. Game 3 was much better as the USA started strong and maintained the momentum paced by Anna Schrad's 6 kills in the game. Game 4 was similar to Game 2 in that USA gave up too many strings of points to remain competitive. Individually, Team USA was paced by Lauren Fendrick with an attack percentage of .385 (6 kills, 1 error on 13 attempts) and Anna Schrad and April Ross with 11 kills each. Ross also led the serve receivers with a 2.31 rating. Alicia Robinson led the team in blocking with 2.5 on the match. As a team, the USA only mustered a reception mark of 2.06 and an attack percentage of .182. "Our poor service reception set the tone for the entire match," said Coach Collins. "For us to be competitive and reach the level this team is capable, we must take better care of the ball - especially in serve reception."

Team USA opened play in Pool B on Thursday, May 24 against Columbia in Monterrey, Mexico with a three games to zero victory (28-26, 25-23, 25-16). The starting line-up for Team USA in the first match was: Toni Anderson (setter), Anna Schrad (opposite), Allyen Rebholz (middle), April Ross (middle), Alicia Robinson (outside), Lauren Fendrick (outside), and Melissa Villaroman (libero). Alicia Robinson led the team in the first match with 14 kills and a .333 attack percentage. Anna Schrad was also strong in registering 10 kills with only 1 error in 18 attempts for an attack percentage of .500. Head Coach Deitre Collins sited Schrad for her play, "Anna was our most consistent performer tonight. Her experience showed as she had a very strong match. Weathering a rash of errors in games 2 and 3, the team settled down to cruise through to an easy 3rd set win to take the match."

2001 Women's Junior World Championship
Intercontinental Qualification
Tournament - May 24-28, 2001
Monterrey, Mexico

Results:

Thursday, May 24, 2001
USA beat Colombia 3-1 (28-26, 25-23, 25-16)

Friday, May 25, 2001
Argentina beat USA 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19)

Sunday, May 27, 2001
Venezuela beat USA 3-1 (28-26, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20)

Monday, May 28, 2001
USA beat Mexico 3-1 (25-21, 32-34, 25-23, 25-18)

* USA Finishes In Third Place Which Qualifies Them For The 2001 Junior World Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - September 1-9, 2001 *

Please see below for the roster of the 2001 USA Women's Junior National Volleyball Team.

USA Women's Junior National Volleyball Team

2001 Women's Junior World Championship
Intercontinental Qualification
Tournament - May 24-28, 2001
Monterrey, Mexico

Roster

No. Name Birthdate Position Hometown/School
1 Melissa Villaroman 02/22/82 L Carson, Calif.ornia University of Hawaii
2 Antonia Anderson 06/13/82 S Yorba Linda, California/USC
3 Katherine Olsovsky 01/03/82 MB Torrance, California/USC
4 Ruth Burdine 01/02/83 OH Pico Rivera, California
5 Lauren Richards 03/16/83 S Orem, Utah
6 Jennifer Joines 11/23/82 MB Milpitas, California/University of Pacific
7 Alicia Robinson 07/27/83 OH Phoenix, Arizona
8 April Ross 06/20/82 MB Imre, California/USC
9 Allyne Rebhols 07/12/82 MB Indianapolis, Indiana
10 Anna Schrad 04/29/82 MB Lincoln, Nebraska/University of Nebraska
11 Lauren Fendrick 03/20/82 MB Carlsbad,
California/UCLA

Staff:
Head Coach: Deitre Collins (UNLV Head Coach)
Assistant Coach: Charita Johnson (Arizona Assistant Coach)
Head of Team: Tom Pingel
Trainer: Daniel Cahill
Trainer: Glen Lietzke