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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 11:48 a.m., Sunday, June 29, 2008

Bown, Berg, Tom lead USA to volleyball win

usvolleyball.org

Logan Tom scored a team-high 16 points and former University of Hawaii star Heather Bown was named the match Most Valuable Player as the U.S. Women's National volleyball team beat host Poland, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 during FIVB World Grand Prix Pool E action at Wroclaw, Poland.

Bown netted 10 points with eight kills on 12 attacks, one block and an ace. Captain Lindsey Berg, a Punahou alum who played collegiately at Minnesota had a kill and block from her setter position and tallied 30 assists as Team USA converted 57.0 percent of its kill attempts with a .454 attack efficiency.

Team USA, 5-1 overall in the World Grand Prix, travels to Chinese Taipei next week to finish the World Grand Prix preliminary round against Poland (0-6) on July 4, Turkey (4-2) July 5 and Italy (5-1) July 6. The U.S. is in a three-way tie for second in the 12-team tournament with Brazil, one loss behind undefeated tournament leaders China. Based on the tiebreaker of points won, the Americans (1.203 points ratio) hold a slim advantage over Brazil (1.191) and Italy (1.117).

The FIVB World Grand Prix includes three preliminary round weekends with three different sites each weekend hosting round-robin events of four teams. The World Grand Prix Finals, a round-robin format of the top five teams from the preliminary round plus host Japan, will be played July 9-13 at Yokohoma, Japan. The overall ranking in the preliminary rounds is decided by the total number of World Grand Prix Points (GPP) gained by the teams in the preliminary matches with two points awarded for a win and one point for a loss.

Team USA overcame a 10-7 deficit in the opening set to win 25-17, thanks to an 8-2 run down the stretch. The U.S. broke an 8-all tie in the second set with a 7-2 run en route to a 25-16 victory. Like the first set, the U.S. overcame a 6-3 deficit in the third set with a 6-1 run and never trailed the rest of the match for a 25-20.

Tom, one of five starters scoring in double figures, totaled 13 kills, two aces and a block for 16 points. She also totaled seven digs and 14 excellent service receptions without an error on 21 attempts. Kim Glass added six kills on 12 errorless swings, a match-high three aces and two blocks for 11 points. Glass chipped in seven digs and 10 excellent service receptions on 17 attempts. Danielle Scott-Arruda contributed eight kills on nine attacks and two blocks for 10 points in the victory. Tayyiba Haneef-Park matched the total with nine kills and a block.

"First of all I want to thank this city, the Polish Volleyball Federation and Polish fans for an incredible week," Berg said after the match. "Second of all, I can speak for my team that we're very excited about our progress this week, compared to the last one. Hopefully we will continue to improve with each game and get to the Finals."

The U.S. started Tom and Glass at outside hitter, Scott-Arruda and Bown at middle blocker, Haneef-Park at opposite and Berg at setter. Nicole Davis, who had a team-high eight digs along with five receptions in seven attempts, is the designated Team USA libero for the Poland leg of the World Grand Prix. Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.) subbed into the match late in the third set. Berg was the only setter listed for this match.

Team USA held a 45-29 advantage in kills and had two fewer errors, 18-16. The U.S. out-served Poland with a 7-1 ace advantage. On defense, the American out-blocked (7-4) and out-dug (34-19) their hosts. For the match, Team USA held a 60.8 serve receive efficiency with 29 excellent receptions on 46 attempts, while Poland had an efficiency of 31.3 with 26 excellent receptions on 64 attempts.

Joanna Kaczor led Poland with 15 kills and two blocks for 17 points. Katarzyna Gajgal added 10 points in the loss.

The U.S. has qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and is using the World Grand Prix as an evaluation tool to help determine the 12-player roster for the Olympic Games. Team USA faces Japan on Aug. 9 to open the 2008 Olympic Games. Other teams in the American pool are Cuba (Aug. 11), Venezuela (Aug. 13), China (Aug. 15) and Poland (Aug. 17).