USA beats China in World Cup despite struggles at setter

No UW alums on roster | HS volleyball surpasses basketball | Beach tourney at Alki

USA players celebrate a point during a 3-0 World Cup win over co-favorite China
-FIVB

The 2015 World Cup, hosted by Japan, is a big deal. That’s because the top two teams in the 12-team round-robin earn the first two berths for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Yesterday, USA defeated co-favorite China 3-0, overcoming passing and setting problems that led to an earlier 3-2 loss to Serbia. Three Washington alums were left off the World Cup roster: setter Courtney Thompson, libero Tama Miyashiro and outside hitter Krista Vansant. All three are still in the running for an Olympic roster spot next summer.

See much more in our online report for Volleyball Magazine. And once you’ve read the report, feel free to add your comments.

VOLLEYBALL PASSES BASKETBALL TO BECOME MOST POPULAR HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS TEAM SPORT

As we’ve been charting for years, girls’ and women’s volleyball has been on a trajectory to overtake basketball as the most popular team sport in America.

Now, at the high school level, that landmark has been reached. According to the latest National Federation of High Schools Participation Survey, volleyball passed basketball in total female participants this year. 432,176 girls played high school volleyball last year, compared to 429,504 for basketball. In Washington State, volleyball has long been #1, and continues to widen the gap, 10,593 to 8,591. Ten years ago, volleyball led 9,099 to 8,863. Twenty years ago, basketball was tops, 10,586 to 10,280.

As always, this means that parents, players and coaches need to constantly remind those who manage gymnasiums—especially in schools and public recreation centers—that basketball hoops should not always be the default setup in their gyms. There are huge numbers of girls, boys, women and men who are eager to walk into gyms where volleyball nets aren’t buried in the back of the storage closet.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT AT ALKI

The National Volleyball League, one of two competing professional sand volleyball circuits, is coming to Seattle’s Alki Beach this weekend.

The NVL’s Seattle Championships are this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Alki, running throughout the morning and afternoon all three days. Sunday’s women’s finals are at 2:30; the men’s are at 4:00. The complete schedule is here.

On Sunday, NVL is offering a free clinic on basic beach volleyball fundamentals for students 6-18 years old. Register here.

A competing tour, the AVP, had a stop in our region earlier this month at Lake Sammamish.

JENNI NOGUERAS HONORED

Former Washington setter Jenni Nogueras is currently playing professionally for Cayey in Puerto Rico.

Alert Volleyblog Seattle reader Rex Andrew points out that Nogueras was named Rookie of the Year for Puerto Rico’s Premiere League this past season. Thanks, Rex, and congratulations Jenni.

Should basketball follow volleyball’s lead?

New York Times Op-Ed suggests different hoop heights for men and women, something volleyball figured out long ago

NCAA | Volleyball rising, basketball “stagnant”

NCAA White Paper highlights women’s basketball troubles, sets up volleyball comparisons

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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