Bowling Green State University Athletics
Team USA Upsets Netherlands to Earn Their Spot in the Gold Medal Match
September 13, 2008 | Volleyball
Sept. 13, 2008
BEIJING, China - The USA Women's Sitting Volleyball team defeated Netherlands, 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 28-26, 25-27, 15-10) to earn their spot in the Gold Medal Match on Sunday (Sept. 14) at 6:00 p.m. Team USA has had a long time rival with the Netherlands and recorded their first victory against them in an international competition.
In the first set of the match Team USA came out strong but was plagued with errors, posting 11, eight of which were attack errors. Team USA dropped the first set 19-25 to the Netherlands.
The second set was another all out battle as the score went back and forth, but Team USA led 8-6, at the first technical time out. The Netherlands fired right back with five straight points to capture the lead. With the score 21-23 in favor of the Netherlands, Brenda Maymon terminated play with a kill to side-out for Team USA. Team USA defeated the Netherlands, 25-23, which marked the first set the Red, White and Blue won a set against the Netherlands in an international competition.
After wining the second set Team USA came out ready in the third set put together an early seven-point run. After the first two technical time outs Team USA was up 16-10. The Netherlands never gave up and continued to fight back eventually tying the set up, 20-20. The USA called a time out to re-group and attempt to stop the Netherlands momentum, however the Netherlands scored two more points. The set continued to go back and forth, but with Netherlands up 26-25 and set point Team USA sided-out and went on to score the last two points to win the third set, 28-26.
Team USA came out firing once again in the fourth set taking an 8-2 lead at the first technical time out. The Netherlands came right back scoring five straight points to make it a one point difference, 9-8. With the score set point for Team USA, 24-22 the Netherlands was able to side-out to continue the set. The Netherlands then score three-points in a row to take a 25-24 lead over Team USA. The Red, White and Blue fought off the Netherlands set point tying things up, 25-25. However the Netherlands was able to score the next two points winning the fourth set 27-25.
With the match all tied up 2-2, everything came down to the fifth and final set. The winner of the fifth set would move on to the Gold Medal match. Team USA came out strong in the fifth set taking an early, 7-1 lead. The Netherlands was never able to come back from Team USA's lead. Team USA defeated the Netherlands 15-10 to win the set and match, advancing to the Gold Medal match.
"After the fourth set it was a little emotional because we all thought we were going to win it," said coach Denise Van De Walle. "But when we went into the fifth set it was all about that set. The Netherlands played the best they have the entire tournament. It was just about not being out-worked in the end." Team USA (3-1) will now match-up against host country China (4-0) in the Gold Medal match on Sunday (Sept. 14) at 6:00 p.m. Fans can watch the Gold Medal match live on www.paralympicsport.tv.
Daily video highlights of the 2008 Paralympic Games, along with pictures from Team USA's victory over the Netherlands are available at www.usparalympics.org and www.universalsports.com
(Some of the information courtesy of U.S. Paralympics Press Officers)
