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Women's volleyball attracts crowds during scrimmages

Women's volleyball team continues to make adjustments before Deaflympics start

by Rachel Benedict on September 2, 2009

As members of the U.S. Deaflympics Team practiced during this week’s training camp, one team in particular has attracted some attention from other American athletes. A fair number of U.S. athletes attended the U.S. Women’s Volleyball Team’s scrimmages Monday and Tuesday against a local Taiwanese men’s team. Monday, the U.S. women won, 2-1. Film from the Monday scrimmage aided the team in its Tuesday games. “We reviewed our film from Monday’s scrimmage and were able to make adjustments for today’s scrimmage so that we could improve,” coach Lynn Ray Boren said. Before Tuesday’s scrimmage, the U.S. women’s team received a warm welcome, and they reciprocated by giving the Taiwanese team USA poker chips. Traditionally, U.S. Deaflympians exchange pins with athletes from other countries. The Taiwanese men made some adjustments to ensure fairness. During the scrimmages, the men only hit before the three-meter line. “I was a bit disappointed about this, since it is harder to practice blocking when I don’t have the opponent’s hitters hit at the net,” middle hitter Katelyn Reese said. The scrimmage opened with a 8-3 run by the U.S. women, and two blocks came quickly from Tamara Foronda and Valerie Trofimenkoff, respectively. Although the Taiwanese men didn’t appear as talented as the women, their athleticism helped them give the U.S. some competition with several rallies. Amanda Krieger came in to end the first game with two aces, and the U.S. won, 25-14. The second game was a different one; the Taiwanese stepped up and appeared to become tougher competition. The U.S. bench, including Jenny Cooper, Justine Jeter, and Paige Johnson, saw some playing time despite the men leading the game and winning it, 25-22. “It was a good practice scrimmage today. We got to practice on several areas, such as defense and hitting,” Katelyn Reese said. Weak spots were identified today, she said. Team captain Pia Marie Paulone herded her team together before the third game, and the hitters stepped up and started the game 8-5. The women continued their full effort, which the Taiwanese mirrored. However, the Americans eked out a 25-21 win. The teams continued to scrimmage after the final game for practice. No official results were recorded for any of the games. “We were able to practice different situations that might happen at the Deaflympics,” Boren said. The team will play a women’s BB-level club team Wednesday, and possibly an A-level club team Thursday before departing for Taipei on Friday.

Kristina Burke receives the ball during a recent volleyball scrimmage. (Photo by Hugh Carey)

Shana Lehmann receives the ball while Justine Jeter watches from behind. (Photo by Hugh Carey)
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