Red vs. Blue Women's National Team Scrimmage

2-time Olympian, Logan Tom

USA fans only get to see the Women's National Volleyball team twice this year on
American soil. The first appearance last night at Irvine Valley College was the first-- and it did not disappoint! Great defensive rallies while a few hammers
were being dropped!


USA Assistant Coach and UCI Head Coach, Paula Weishoff

It was my first-ever USAV Women's match I had the privilege to announce but it was exciting. The toughest thing I had to do was figure out how to say, "Foluke Akinradewo." Which even to this moment I am not sure how to say it. I went to a coach (who shall not be named) and spelled it out phonetically, but every time I said the name, the women's team laughed. I guess next week at St. Margaret's I'm going to have to just walk up to her and ask her myself!


Women's National Team Assistant, and All-Time Volleyball Great, Karch Kiraly

It's amazing to work alongside names like Hugh McCutcheon, Karch Kiraly, Paula Weishoff and Logan Tom. Also in attendance were Angela Rock, Elaina Oden, Clay Stanley and Alfie Reft (rumored-- someone told me he was in the crowd. Alfie, what's up not saying, "Hi" if you were there, mate?).

One thing you can recognize is Coach Hugh McCutcheon's coaching philosophy. They have the competitive countenance of the USA Men's Volleyball team that won the gold medal in Beijing in 2008. These are some of the biggest and strongest women's volleyball players in the world highlighted by players like Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, UT/Stanford), Nellie Spicer (Barrington, IL/UCLA) and others.

Since it was an intersquad scrimmage these women battled hard all night-- since they were all vying to make the 12-person roster for the next big international tournament, Grand Prix.

Other players that drew great attention were 6'4" MB Lauren Paolini (Ann Arbor, MI/Texas) who lit up the court in the middle, 5'8" S Courtney Thompson (Kent, WA/Washington) who had hands of butter and was a huge competitor, 5'8" L Nicole Davis (Stockton, CA/USC) who had incredible, rally-extending digs and 6'0" OH Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, CA/Stanford) who was the hot hand for the Blue squad.

I highly encourage you to stop by and see the final USA WVB Team appearance in the United States next week at St. Margaret's School in San Juan Capistrano. It will be on Saturday, July 24th, at 7:00 pm!

Rob is off...til next time!