Preps | Volleyball takes center stage on Memorial weekend

Converting football turf to volleyball courts at the 27^th Emerald City Classic at the University of Washington

• May 25, 26 & 27 | Dempsey Indoor Arena & Alaska Airlines Arena | Free Admission

Olympics | Courtney Thompson's nose, Lindsey Berg's calf

USA vs. South Korea (semifinals), Thursday, August 9, 7:00am (Pacific)

USA volleyball fans won't know until Thursday morning whether Courtney Thompson or Lindsey Berg will take the setter's reins against South Korea in the Olympic semifinals.

There is no reason to suspect that Thompson's bump on the nose--sustained on the final play of Tuesday's Dominican Republic match--has had any significant effect. But much thanks to Seattle's Dave Weitl of Washington Volleyball Academy for passing along his photo of Courtney signaling to her parents that she's bloodied, but not bowed:

Olympics | Keys to Wednesday’s USA vs. China match

USA (2-0) vs. China (2-0)

Wednesday, August 1, 12:00noon (Pacific)
[Live on www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/]

After dispatching Brazil, the US team faces another formidable foe: China.

Here are a couple things to watch when the teams take the court Wednesday at noon (Pacific):

PASSING

USA’s serve receive was vastly better against Brazil than in its first match against South Korea. At every level of volleyball, the ability of back row players to consistently deliver clean passes gives a setter her full arsenal of weapons. Conversely, several USA servers have room for improvement, as they’ve delivered too many easily-passed balls to their opponents.

MIXING IT UP

American setter Lindsey Berg has made little secret that Destinee Hooker is her go-to hitter. That said, Berg’s distribution has been both respectable—and consistent. Here are the attack attempts for the first two matches:

	vs. South Korea	vs. Brazil
Destinee Hooker	42	45
Jordan Larson	33	36
Logan Tom	34	27
Foluke Akinradewo	17	19
Christa Harmotto	8	8

(NOTE: Berg delivered 71% of USA’s sets against Korea and 77% against Brazil)

If opponents key on Hooker, or if Hooker gets tired (as she seemed to against South Korea), Berg will need all her weapons. In particular, both Akinradewo and Harmotto are capable of piling up points when the opponent’s second middle blocker is in the rotation; Berg would do well to look to them more often.

DEFENDING RIGHT SIDE

Both USA setters—Lindsey Berg and Courtney Thompson—are 5-8, on the short side for international play. While blocking is not their first responsibility, the USA is vulnerable in rotations 4, 5 & 6, when the setter is in the front row. In those rotations, Harmotto has helped tremendously with her eyework and long arms, often blocking line by reaching over Berg. The trouble comes when opponents tip … and Hooker is playing back row behind the setter. USA did a great job covering tips against Brazil, however, and may need to be equally alert against the Chinese.

Lindsey Berg (4), Christa Harmotto (13) and Logan Tom (15) put up a right side triple block against Brazil
-photo courtesy David Weitl

Basketball Tourney: Impressive. Volleyball Tourney: Even more so

As we celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of Title IX, a notice in today’s Seattle Times caught our eye.

A girls’ basketball tournament in Kirkland, WA—called Midsummer Nights Madness—starts July 10:

• Now in its 15^th season
• Teams from throughout the west, plus Canada and a team based in Germany
• Grown from 35 teams in 1997 to about 100 in 2012
• *1100 female athletes

Very impressive. And hats off to Madness founder Stan Lee and the dozens of volunteers who make something this big happen every year.

It’s another opportunity, however, to point out a fact rarely noted in the nation’s sports pages: More high school girls play volleyball in Washington state than any other sport [source: National Federation of High Schools 2010-11 Participation Survey]. [see: How popular is volleyball among high school girls?]

Action at the 2012 Emerald City Classic
-courtesy WVBA

In fact, volleyball is the most popular prep girls’ sport throughout the west, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Hawai’i, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.

And—without taking anything away from basketball’s notable Midsummer Nights Madness event—the annual Emerald City Volleyball Classic at the University of Washington is mighty impressive in its own right:

• Now in its 26^th season
• Teams from throughout the west, plus Canada and Brazil
• Grown from 12 teams in 1976 to 201 in 2012
• 2200 female athletes

So … even more impressive. And too often overlooked, since the annual Classic is held over Memorial Day weekend, when it competes for media attention with a slew of other sporting events. Hats off to Dave Weitl and all his Emerald City Classic volunteers.

[Full disclosure: Jack Hamann, author of this post, was a member of the Washington Volleyball Academy’s Board of Directors from 2003-09; WVBA is the Emerald City Classic organizer]

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*according to Midsummer Nights Madness director Stan Lee, there are 94 teams and approximately 1100 athletes registered as of July 5. Lee says the Seattle Times was incorrectly told that there are 1800 athletes registered.

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