Dominican Republic’s Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez (20) has a kill against Puerto Rico’s Lynda Morales (18) and Vilmarie Mojica (3) in a women’s volleyball NORCECA round-robin Olympic qualifying tournament match in Lincoln, Neb., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.
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Thursday night, Pinnacle Bank Arena will be packed with fans and players for the first night of the Olympic Qualifier.
“I play volleyball and it’s really cool to have United States of America volleyball play at Lincoln Nebraska”, Thuyvi Le, from Crete, said.
“We’ve worked so hard on the marketing and advertising, and really selling our community”, Lincoln Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Jeff Maul said. “We haven’t taken this time for granted”. Second and third places will have one more chance to qualify in May. That has largely been coach Karch Kiraly’s theme of “family” for this Olympic cycle since he took over for Hugh McCutcheon after the London Games, where he was an assistant. However, assisted blocks is not a stat that FIVB keeps, they give credit only to the player who actually touched the ball. “It’s been a lot of fun”, outside hitter Jordan Larson said. The victor of the event, which matches Team USA against Canada, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, will receive one of 12 berths in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Canada defeated all of those teams en route to winning its first NORCECA men’s continental championship gold medal at Cordoba, Mexico, in October. Even with the disappointment at the World Cup, Kiraly believes in his deep, diverse squad and its ability to do something special in Rio – once the Americans seal their spot, of course.
“Connor Sport Court has been a valued partner of USA Volleyball for over 25 years and we are proud to showcase their outstanding volleyball surface at this prestigious event where our U.S. Women’s National Team is competing to earn its qualification to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games”, said USA Volleyball Secretary General Kerry Klostermann. For us it was a good start to the tournament and there are some things we can build confidence on for the next two games… “I was just proud of everyone that they got control of their nerves and we all just fought together”.
United States’ Jordan Larson-Burbach (10) and Kelsey Robinson, …
“Nebraska is the epicenter of volleyball”, said coach John Cook of the newly crowned NCAA champion Cornhuskers women’s program. It’s safe to say Team USA will have the crowd in their pocket, especially with three former Huskers being represented on the roster. Nebraska is used to this, and the fact three Nebraska girls are on the team will make this a great event.
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NU fans also may remember middle blockers Foluke Akinradewo (Stanford), Rachael Adams (Texas) and Tori Dixon (Minnesota) as former college stars the Huskers faced. “The U.S.is the top ranked team and they took advantage of that”. “Certainly we would have liked to have qualified at the World Cup and finished stronger but we’ve gotten this opportunity to come together”. “That’s part of the problem of not knowing what it is, which puts a little extra pressure on the guys”. We always are. In one sense, you fail or you don’t accomplish the goal and you come at it with a new energy.
