Olympic diary | Courtney Thompson on pre-match rituals (or not)

Volleyblog Seattle is working with Courtney Thompson to produce periodic Olympic diaries for the Seattle Times.

The fourth installment is now on the Times' website (and in Sunday's paper)

see also:

Courtney Thompson on family

Courtney Thompson relives opening ceremony

Courtney Thompson: "We're in London!"

Courtney Thompson powered by 2 big inspirations [front page feature]

Olympics | #1 vs. #2: USA/Brazil Preview

Monday, July 30 | 8:45am (Pacific): #1 USA vs. #2 Brazil
NBC Live Extra www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra

One of the biggest matchups of the 2012 London Olympic Games is just hours away.

Courtney Thompson and Tayyiba Haneef-Park
celebrate a point against South Korea

Earlier this year, the USA bumped Brazil from the top of the world volleyball rankings. The Americans strengthened that position by defeating Brazil twice during the 2012 World Grand Prix competition.

Monday’s showdown could be a doozy. Both teams struggled in their Olympic openers. Brazil needed five sets to defeat Turkey, an emerging power. According to our friends and contacts who watched both the USA and Brazil in London Saturday, here’s how they compare:

• Brazil was the better passing and digging team. USA often struggled against South Korea; libero Nicole Davis had 8 passing errors, including a couple of fairly clean opportunities.
• USA’s blockers were more dominant. Foluke Akinradewo and Christa Harmotto were particularly effective, with Tayyiba Haneef-Park helping Harmotto completely shut down the Koreans at the end of the match.
• Both teams are effective when they set the Quick: a fast, flat delivery right to the hands of the middle blocker. USA setter Lindsey Berg, however, didn’t look to her middles very often, however.
• Berg relies as much as she can on one hitter: Destinee Hooker. She set Hooker on the right, left and in the back. When Hooker was on, they got results. But with relatively few chances, other hitters had a tough time finding a rhythm, especially outside hitter Logan Tom.

So often, big matches like this come down to serving and serve receive. For the Americans, both Tom and Harmotto do a great job mixing their serves, and often end up on long runs. The question may be how well the USA—especially Tom and Davis—handle Brazil’s serve.

Olympics | USA 3, South Korea 1

COURTNEY THOMPSON AND TAMA MIYASHIRO HELP LEAD TEAM USA TO VICTORY

Final Score: USA 3, South Korea 1 (25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21)

It was the fourth set, and the USA women’s volleyball team was in trouble.

South Korea star hitter Yeon-Koung Kim was dominating the match. After rocky wins in the first two sets, the USA lost the third. With the Americans clinging to a 14-13 fourth set lead, middle blocker Christa Harmotto rescued a low set and slammed it for a point.

Enter Courtney Thompson.

Team USA celebrates a point during the fourth set against Korea

As she had all evening, the former University of Washington setter launched a “jumpie”: a float serve with minimal rotation. The ball dropped at the feet of the Korean defender, who barely kept it in play. After a short rally, Dae-Young Jung pushed a ball past libero Nicole Davis for another Korean point.

But Thompson—who had entered each set as part of a double-substitution—went to work. A back set to Jordan Larson for a kill. A smart defensive read to avoid a Korean attack heading out of bounds. A pair of double blocks by Harmotto and Tayyiba Haneef-Park. A Larson service ace.

After Korea broke the run, Thompson fed Harmotto with a quick set to the middle for another kill. Courtney’s former Washington teammate Tama Miyashiro entered to serve, forcing the Koreans out of system with a deep float, allowing another Haneef-Park termination block. Larson’s back-row attack from a Thompson set didn’t fall, allowing Korea to push a quick return beyond Larson’s reach. the next play, Thompson slid another quick, this time to Foluke Akinradewo for the kill.

By the time Thompson rotated back to the sidelines, she’d led her team on an 8-3 run and a 23-16 lead.

With Lindsey Berg back at setter, the Koreans won 4 of the next 5 points. But a Larson block ended the set, and the match, giving the USA its first—and tougher-than-expected win of these Olympics.

During the post-match press conference, head coach Hugh McCutcheon mentioned the late set four run:

“It was a very tough game” said McCutcheon, “and Korea made us work a lot. We did some things pretty well but I have also seen room for improvement.

“The players responded well especially after dropping the third set and they turned it around in a very good way to finish it off in the fourth set.”

Korea’s Kim led all hitters with 27 kills and 8 errors on 63 attempts (.300). Dentinee Hooker was Berg’s primary target all night, finishing with 19 kills and 4 errors on 42 attempts (.357) Larson had 14 kills (.393) while Akinradewo added 9 (.411).