No. 1 China Is Too Much for U.S. Women in Volleyball

With a roster dominated by youth and inexperience, Terry Liskevych, U.S. Women’s national volleyball team coach, looks for the little victories.

With that in mind, Liskevych was more than pleased with his team’s 13-15, 17-15, 15-10, 15-10 loss to China in San Diego State’s Peterson Gym Thursday night.

U.S. won the first game and held a 10-6 advantage in the second before falling to China, ranked No. 1 in the world.

Thursday’s match was the first in a four-match series against China and the Americans’ first match in the United States this year. The U.S. is 0-5 in 1987 after losing four matches to No. 2 Cuba at Santiago, Chile.

“We played well and I was happy the way we came back,” Liskevych said. “A few errors cost us Game No. 2 and 3.”

As expected, the Americans dominated the net most of the match. But China’s superior defense and the outside hitting of Jiang Ying and Wu Dan finally took their toll. Ying led all players with 25 kills.

After taking a 10-6 lead in Game 2, the U.S. could not score in its next 16 services. China in the meantime rallied to score the next seven points for a 13-10 lead.

The U.S. led later, 15-14, but a kill by Ying and a block by Ying and Yang Xiaojun put China ahead, 16-15. China then tied the match at 1-1 on a receiving error by former Liz Masakayan.

After falling behind in the next two games, the U.S. was not able to mount a strong enough rally to overcome the deficits.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Liskevych said. “But we feel we are playing real well against top teams.”

Kim Oden led the Americans with 22 kills. Masakayan had 17 kills and Angela Rock, a former San Diego State All-American, added 15.

The Americans were without two top players. Caren Kemner is recuperating from shoulder surgery and former UCLA setter Michelle Boyette did not play because of disciplinary reasons, Liskevych said.