July 27, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford grad Villa has U.S. close to gold

by Rick Eymer

A slow start hasn't hurt the United States women's national water polo team in its quest for the world title.

Stanford grad Brenda Villa scored three goals as Team USA advanced to the semifinals with an 8-5 victory over Australia on Monday night in the FINA World Championships in Montreal.

The U.S. scored the game's first three goals and never trailed, though Australia drew within 7-5 in the final quarter before Moriah Van Norman sealed the victory with a late goal.

The Americans meet Russia in Wednesday's semifinal. Canada and Hungary meet in the other semifinal, with the winners playing for the gold medal on Friday.

"It is definitely a great victory," USA coach Heather Moody said. "Australia is a very good team. Usually, we have very competitive games against them. It will be a great game against Russia in semifinals. Now, we will focus on them and we want to play the gold medal game."

Russia advanced with a 7-5 victory over Italy.

The U.S., after posting a 0-1-1 mark to open play, began its winning streak with a 14-3 victory over Cuba on Saturday as Villa scored three goals.

"We are just trying to build with each game," Villa said. "You can always work on what you have been lacking."

Van Norman added three goals as the U.S. scored eight of their goals on counter attacks.

"We came up pretty strong," Villa said. "This game helps us prepare for the next game."

The U.S. took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and were never threatened. Team USA led 11-0 going into the final quarter.

"We definitely should be confident because we were shooting well in the first half of the game," Moody said. "In the second half we relaxed a little bit but that usually happens when you are up on a team like that."

The Americans reached the medal round by beating China, 18-2, on Thursday. The U.S. needed to win by more than 12 goals to advance. Kristina Kunkel scored four goals to lead the U.S. Villa added two goals.

"We try to prepare the same way for each team we play against," Villa said. "We can't afford another let down as we came out the first day."

Men's water polo

After dropping a tough contest, 6-5, to Italy on Sunday in the FINA World Championships in Montreal, the United States national team advanced into the ninth-place match against Germany on Tuesday.

"USA is a strong team with a good coach," Italian coach Pierluigi Formiconi said. "They played very well and we had difficulty winning the match."

Stanford grad and U.S. team captain Tony Azevedo nearly tied the game in the final moments, but the final horn sounded before he could get off a shot. Azevedo did score a goal in the final 24 seconds to bring the Americans within 6-5.

"Our goal now is to win the next game," USA coach Guy Baker said. "We will just have to get better and try to improve."

Italy took a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes but Jesse Smith scored on USA's first player advantage.

Adam Wright broke a 13-minute scoreless streak to tie the game at 2-all with 5:37 left in the third quarter.

The Italians scored twice in the final minute of the third to take a 4-2 lead and set the stage for the USA's near comeback.

Italy advances to the quarterfinals against Greece.

Women's volleyball

The United States Junior national team surprised Japan, 15-25, 25-20, 27-25, 19-25, 15-13, on Monday to keep its hopes alive in preliminary play at the Junior Under-20 World Championships in Ankara, Turkey.

The U.S. lost its first two matches before rallying for the win.

"This is a great victory for USA," USA coach Shelton Collier said. "We had to win after two defeats. My players were very successful at applying tactics." Stanford sophomore Bryn Kehoe and Stanford freshman Foluke Akinradewo were in the starting lineup for the first game.

"Six different persons created a team," USA outside hitter Alexis Crimes said. "We played with our hearts and desire to win."

Crimes led the Americans with 20 points.

The U.S. meets Croatia on Wednesday before medal play begins on Saturday in Istanbul.

In the opening round on Saturday, the U.S. lost to Serbia and Montenegro, 25-18, 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, despite 15 kills from Christa Harmotto and 14 kills from Marcie Hampton.

Sanja Hanusic scored a match-high 24 points to lead the winners.

"Serbia had played 40 matches together prior to this event and it was our first," Collier said. "Their experience showed at critical times. We were as good or as better than they were in-system. The key to the match was that they were very good out of system."

On Sunday, the U.S. lost to Brazil, 25-19 25-20 25-14, in a match that lasted just over an hour.

Beach volleyball

Stanford grad Kerri Walsh and teammate Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh captured their 40th career title by winning the women's finals of the AVP Nissan Series Hermosa Beach Open on Sunday, 21-16, 21-19, over fellow Americans Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder.

"We took care of business. Misty and I had confidence and we were building our confidence from beginning to end," Walsh said. "We played great teams. It felt good all weekend long."

Walsh and May-Treanor, Olympic gold medal winners in Athens, won their eighth title, and avenged their only loss of the season. Youngs and beat May-Treanor and Walsh at the AVP Cincinnati Open the first week of July.

"We limited our mistakes and we did a very good job of staying together," May-Treanor said. "It was a longer weekend then we expected because we normally play Saturday, but it was a great turnout and was fun to be back."

May-Treanor and Walsh advanced to the finals by beating Olympians Holly McPeak and Jennifer Kessy, 21-18, 21-16, in the semifinals.

Stanford product Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings won the men's final of the Hermosa Beach Open Saturday, defeating second-seeded Dax Holdren and Jeff Nygaard, 19-21, 21-16, 15-13.

Men's volleyball

Stanford grad Curt Toppel recorded 18 kills as the United States national team defeated host Argentina, 25-22, 27-29, 25-20, 25-22, on Sunday as part of a five-match exhibition this week.

Team USA opened with an 18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 27-25 win over the Argentines on Friday.

The third match of the tour is scheduled for Wednesday in Cordoba City. The teams will also play in the cities of San Francisco (Thursday) and Gualeguaychu (Saturday).

Softball

Stanford senior Catalina Morris had two hits but the USA Elite National Team failed to push any runs across the plate and fell to Chinese Taipei, 4-0, in the finals of preliminary play at the Intercontinental Cup in Madrid, Spain.

Chinese Taipei, the top seed entering playoffs, faced second-seeded U.S. in a rematch on Tuesday.

"We are obviously disappointed with the loss," USA coach Teresa Wilson said. "We have to put this game behind us."

Chinese Taipei scored a run in the first on a pair of wild pitches, and then added two unearned runs in the third.

Team USA had the bases loaded in the fifth with two outs, but failed to convert the opportunity. Morris and Tiffany Haas singled, and Marissa Nichols walked to load the bases.

In the sixth, singles by Stanford senior Lauren Lappin and Heather Scaglione gave the U.S. two runners with two outs.

The Americans collected six hits in the game, and held Taipei to three hits, but committed their first three errors of the tournament.

The U.S. had six hits in the game while holding Taipei to just three but did commit its first three errors of the tournament.

"We couldn't come up with the timely hits," Wilson said. "That is something we will need to improve on."

Stanford grad Dana Sorensen helped pitch Team USA to a 7-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday. That left Americans are unbeaten and unscored upon in four games before the loss to Taipei .

Morris has appeared in all five games, with a hit in eight at bats. Lappin has seen action in two games.

Sorensen and Jennie Ritter combined on a three-hitter over six innings and Samantha Findlay hit a two-run homer for the U.S, which is hitting .500 as a team.

The United States Elite team opened Intercontinental Cup play with a 6-0 victory over Italy on Friday as Ritter pitched four hitless innings, striking out seven, before turning the ball over to Sorensen, who allowed one hit over three innings to earn the save.

On Saturday, the U.S beat Spain, 16-0, as every hitter hit safely, led by catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest and shortstop Jessica Merchant, who each went 3-for-3 with four RBI.

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