Team USA plays NORCECA Continental Championship winner Cuba on Saturday afternoon at 12:35 p.m. (9:35 p.m. MT on Nov. 2.). Cuba, which blanked Kenya earlier today, defeated the U.S. in five sets during the NORCECA gold medal match on Sept. 22.

The U.S. overcame opening match jitters by falling behind 3-0 in the first set, but came back to take a 17-10 lead and held on for the 25-23 victory as Peru closed back to within one at 21-20. Team USA never trailed in the second set as it opened up an 8-3 advantage and used a 7-2 scoring run to establish a 20-12 lead en route to a 25-14 final score. The Americans closed out the set with a 25-19 victory as it opened up an early 12-7 lead.

“The players had very good passion today, but you still need to work on the details and teamwork, but the players did their best,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach ‘Jenny’ Lang Ping said. “The important thing in the World Cup is to get the win. If you play great and you lose, it's hard. Lots of teams have a similar situation in that they didn't get together for a long time. It's important just to get our level higher for each match. I believe my team can play better than today, though.”

The FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2007, held every four years in the preceding year to the Olympics, is the first of three Olympic qualification steps for Beijing 2008. The top three teams at the World Cup qualify for the 2008 Olympics. The FIVB World Cup is a 12-team event with a round-robin playing format of 11 matches in 15 days.

The U.S. started Danielle Scott-Arruda (Baton Rouge, La.) and Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) at middle blocker, Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Ogonna Nnamani (Normal, Ill.) at outside hitter, Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Laguna Hills, Calif.) at opposite and Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) at setter. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) is Team USA’s designated libero for the World Cup. Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Honolulu) and Cassie Busse (Prior Lake, Minn.) came off the bench in all three sets. Stacy Sykora (Burleton, Texas) entered as a sub in the first set. Kim Glass (Lancaster, Pa.) started the third set in place of Nnamani.

“It was our first game and we struggled, which sometimes is normal,” Berg said. “We have to get the excitement into our game and we need to play better and better as the tournament goes on. I am looking forward to getting better in each match.”

Tom paced the U.S. with a team-high 13 points on nine kills, three blocks and an ace. In her first international competition with the U.S. National Team in three years, she also picked up a team-high eight digs. Haneef-Park and Bown contributed nine kills on 14 errorless attacks and two blocks for 11 apiece. Scott-Arruda charted 10 points via eight kills, one block and one ace. Nnamani added seven points on six kills and a block in just two sets of action. Busse came of the bench to score four kills, while Glass tallied one kill. Berg, who had 35 assists on 46 total attempts, put up a block to round the U.S. scoring. Ah Mow-Santos added 14 assists in the reserve setting role. Davis tacked on seven digs and 13 excellent receptions on 18 attempts.

“We were very energetic and the first game is usually difficult, but we played well today,” Tom said. “I'm happy to return to the national team after three years and to play well. Last season was my first full season in beach volleyball and I enjoyed it and learning new techniques. I learned many things, such as ball control and patience. I'm getting back into the indoor game. Things happen faster indoors and now my focus is on the indoor game and, hopefully, qualifying for the Olympics.”

Team USA out-blocked Peru 10-4 and carried a 46-34 advantage in kills. Peru held a slim 3-2 advantage in aces. The U.S. built a 33-24 advantage in digs over Peru. The Americans gained 17 of their points on Peru errors, while the U.S. handed the losers 15 points on errors.

“This tournament is really long, so we will try to use all 12 players to deal with that and it will give them a chance to gain more experience,” Lang Ping said. “Tomorrow, we play Cuba and we are quite familiar with them. They are very strong.”

Yulissa Zamudio led Peru with 11 points, while Leyla Chihuan added nine points all on kills. Milagros Moy collected eight points in the loss.

Teams not making the World Cup medal stand will have two other opportunities to qualify for the Olympics with continental qualification tournaments in December 2007 and the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in May 2008 at Japan.

Earlier today, Cuba defeated Kenya 25-11, 25-18, 25-20 at Hamamatsu, while Brazil challenges Poland at the same site after the U.S.-Peru match. At Tokyo, Serbia defeated Korea 25-21, 25-23, 25-15 and Italy swept Thailand 25-14, 25-14, 25-16. Japan hosts Dominican Republic at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Team USA matches during the FIVB World Cup can be seen on a delayed basis on NBC’s Universal HD network. For more details and broadcast times, go to http://www.usavolleyball.org/VolleyballNews/news.asp?id=1962 for the release.

Nnamani downed a kill to stop a 3-0 run by Peru to begin the opening set. Haneef-Park and Bown collected consecutive kills to close to within one at 5-4. Bown tied the set at 6-all with a kill after a Peruvian error. Nnamani collected a kill followed by back-to-back Tom blocks to lift the U.S. into an 11-9 advantage. Tom, Nnamani and Bown all provided kills, followed by blocks from Bown and Haneef-Park to go into the second technical timeout on a 5-0 run, 16-10. Out of the break, Haneef-Park hammered a kill for the sixth straight U.S. point. Trailing by seven (17-10), Peru rattled off four straight points to close to within three at 17-14. Haneef-Park tallied a kill and Bown blocked a Peru attack as part of a 3-0 run to push the gap back to six at 20-14. Peru came back to within one, 21-20, with four unanswered points. However, the teams traded points the rest of the way for a 25-23 U.S. victory. Bown led the Americans with five points in the opening set, while Nnamani and Haneef-Park picked up four points apiece.

Haneef-Park picked up three kills in a Team USA 4-0 run to give the Americans a 6-2 advantage to start the second set. The U.S. reached the first technical timeout up 8-3 as Tom recorded an ace and block on consecutive plays. Peru scored three straight points out of the break to move to within two, 8-6. The U.S. answered with consecutive points on a Bown kill and Peru error for a 10-6 lead. Team USA stretched the lead to 12-7 with a Scott-Arruda kill and Nnamani block. Tom tapped down a kill followed by a Bown block to put the U.S. in the lead at 15-10. Haneef-Park turned in a kill while Tom was credited with a block around the second technical timeout for a 17-11 U.S. advantage. Bown collected two kills around a Tom scoring attack to extend the lead to 20-12 as part of a 5-1 scoring run. Team USA’s lead reached 10 at 24-14 on a Peru error and kills from Tom, Busse and Nnamani. On its first set point opportunity, the U.S. scored its fifth straight point via Peru’s ninth error of the match. Tom paced the U.S. in the second set with six points, while Haneef-Park added five points.

The U.S. scored the first two-point cushion of the third set at 6-4 after consecutive kills from Tom and Scott-Arruda. Team USA widened the gap to four at 10-6 as Scott-Arruda put up a block between three other Peruvian errors. Scott-Arruda turned in a kill and the U.S. added an additional point on another Peru error for a five-point, 12-7 advantage. Haneef-Park scored a kill and Scott-Arruda followed with an ace to push the margin to six at 14-8. Team USA allowed Peru to score consecutive points just once the rest of the way as it closed out the set and match with a 25-19 victory playing side-out ball. Scott-Arruda turned in five points during the final set.

The U.S. Women’s National Team press kit can be downloaded off the USA Volleyball web site at http://www.usavolleyball.org/media/national/07WorldCupPressKit-W.pdf.

U.S. Women’s National Team Preliminary Roster for 2007 FIVB World Cup
1 - Ogonna Nnamani (OH, 6-1, Stanford, Normal, Illinois)
2 - Danielle Scott-Arruda (MB, 6-2, Long Beach State, Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
3 - Tayyiba Haneef-Park (OH/OPP, 6-7, Long Beach State, Laguna Hills, California)
4 – Lindsey Berg (S, 5-8, Minnesota, Honolulu, Hawai’i)
5 – Stacy Sykora (L, 5-10, Texas A&M, Burleson, Texas)
6 – Logan Tom (OH, 6-1, Stanford, Salt Lake City, Utah)
7 - Heather Bown (MB, 6-3, Hawai’i, Yorba Linda, California)
9 - Jennifer Joines (MB, 6-3, Pacific, Milpitas, California)
10 – Kim Glass (OH, 6-3, Arizona, Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
11 - Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (S, 5-9, Hawai’i, Honolulu, Hawai’i)
15 - Nicole Davis (L, 5-6, Southern California, Stockton, California)
18 - Cassandra “Cassie” Busse (OPP, 6-1, Minnesota, Prior Lake, Minnesota)

2007 FIVB World Cup Standings
(most up-to-date standings with point ratios at http://www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldCup/2007/Women/Standings/Standings.asp?sm=128)
USA 1-0
Italy 1-0
Cuba 1-0
Serbia 1-0
*Brazil 0-0
*Dominican Republic 0-0
*Japan 0-0
*Poland 0-0
Kenya 0-1
Korea 0-1
Peru 0-1
Thailand 0-1
* Denotes current day’s match not included in standings

2007 FIVB World Cup Women’s Schedule

First Round

(at Tokyo)
11/2: Serbia def. Korea 25-21, 25-23, 25-15
11/2: Italy def. Thailand 25-14, 25-14, 25-16
11/2: Dominican Republic vs. Japan, 7:30 p.m.
11/3: Thailand vs. Serbia, 12:35 p.m.
11/3: Italy vs. Dominican Republic, 3:05 p.m.
11/3: Japan vs. Korea, 6 p.m.
11/4: Dominican Republic vs. Thailand, 12:35 p.m.
11/4: Korea vs. Italy, 3:05 p.m.
11/4: Serbia vs. Japan, 6 p.m.

(at Hamamatsu)
11/2: Cuba def. Kenya 25-11, 25-18, 25-20
11/2: USA def. Peru 25-23, 25-14, 25-19
11/2: Brazil vs. Poland, 7:35 p.m.
11/3: Cuba vs. USA, 12:35 p.m. (9:35 p.m. MT on Nov. 2)
11/3: Poland vs. Peru, 3:05 p.m.
11/3: Kenya vs. Brazil, 6:05 p.m.
11/4: Peru vs. Kenya, 12:35 p.m.
11/4: Brazil vs. Cuba, 3:05 p.m.
11/4: USA vs. Poland, 6:05 p.m. (3:05 a.m. MT)

Second Round

(at Osaka)
11/6: Italy vs. Serbia, 12:35 p.m.
11/6: Dominican Republic vs. Korea, 3:05 p.m.
11/6: Thailand vs. Japan, 6 p.m.
11/7: Korea vs. Thailand, 12:35 p.m.
11/7: Serbia vs. Dominican Republic, 3:05 p.m.
11/7: Japan vs. Italy, 6 p.m.

(at Sendai)
11/6: Kenya vs. USA, 12:35 p.m. (8:35 p.m. MT on Nov. 5)
11/6: Cuba vs. Poland, 3:05 p.m.
11/6: Brazil vs. Peru, 6:05 p.m.
11/7: Poland vs. Kenya, 12:35 p.m.
11/7: Peru vs. Cuba, 3:05 p.m.
11/7: USA vs. Brazil, 6:05 p.m. (2:05 a.m. MT)

Third Round

(at Sapporo)
11/9: Italy vs. Poland, 2:05 p.m.
11/9: Kenya vs. Serbia, 4:35 p.m.
11/9: Japan vs. Peru, 7:30 p.m.
11/10: Italy vs. Kenya, 2:05 p.m.
11/10: Peru vs. Serbia, 4:35 p.m.
11/10: Japan vs. Poland, 7:30 p.m.
11/11: Peru vs. Italy, 12:35 p.m.
11/11: Poland vs. Serbia, 3:05 p.m.
11/11: Japan vs. Kenya, 6 p.m.

(at Kumamoto)
11/9: Dominican Republic vs. USA, 3:05 p.m. (11:05 p.m. MT on Nov. 8)
11/9: Brazil vs. Thailand, 12:35 p.m.
11/9: Cuba vs. Korea, 6:05 p.m.
11/10: Cuba vs. Dominican Republic, 12:35 p.m.
11/10: Thailand vs. USA, 3:05 p.m. (11:05 p.m. MT on Nov. 9)
11/10: Brazil vs. Korea, 6:05 p.m.
11/11: Cuba vs. Thailand, 12:35 p.m.
11/11: Korea vs. USA, 3:05 p.m. (11:05 p.m. MT on Nov. 10)
11/11: Brazil vs. Dominican Republic, 6:05 p.m.

Fourth Round

(at Nagoya Site A)
11/14: Brazil vs. Italy, 2:05 p.m.
11/14: Serbia vs. USA, 4:35 p.m. (12:05 a.m. MT)
11/14: Japan vs. Cuba, 7:30 p.m.
11/15: Brazil vs. Serbia, 12:35 p.m.
11/15: Cuba vs. Italy, 3:05 p.m.
11/15: Japan vs. USA, 6 p.m. (2 a.m. MT)
11/16: Cuba vs. Serbia, 12:35 p.m.
11/16: Italy vs. USA, 3:05 p.m. (11:05 pm. MT on Nov. 15)
11/16: Japan vs. Brazil, 6 p.m.

(at Nagoya Site B)
11/14: Kenya vs. Thailand, 12:35 p.m.
11/14: Dominican Republic vs. Poland, 3:05 p.m.
11/14: Korea vs. Peru, 6:05 p.m.
11/15: Dominican Republic vs. Kenya, 12:35 p.m.
11/15: Peru vs. Thailand, 3:05 p.m.
11/15: Korea vs. Poland, 6:05 p.m.
11/16: Dominican Republic vs. Peru, 12:05 p.m.
11/16: Poland vs. Thailand, 2:35 p.m.
11/16: Kenya vs. Korea, 5:05 p.m.