USA players advance in FIVB under-18 World Championships
Cynthia Barboza and Stephanie Barry are playing "hookey" this week to compete for the United States, as the two hope to better the country's previous two FIVB World Championships for women players under 18 years old.
Cynthia Barboza and Stephanie Barry are playing "hookey" this week to compete for the United States in Termoli, Italy, as the two hope to better the country's previous two FIVB World Championships for women players under 18 years old.
Seeded fourth in the women's competition on Rio Vivo Beach, Barboza and Barry completed Pool D play on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 match mark after scoring a 21-19 and 21-16 win over ninth-seeded Jillian McLeod and Alice Rohkamper of Australia. The Americans had opened pool play Thursday with wins over teams from Russia and Latvia.
By competing for the United States in the third annual FIVB U-18 World Championships, Barboza and Barry are skipping a week's practice at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. Barboza, who was a final cut for the United States Indoor National team for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, is a senior outside hitter for Wilson while Barry is a junior setter.
By protecting their seed in pool play, Barboza and Barry will play in the top half of the 16-team single-elimination bracket where 24th-seeded Oksana Bosjanok/Kadri Puri of Estonia captured the top spot by besting teams from host Italy, France and Switzerland.
The lower half of the elimination bracket will feature second-seeded Carolina Solberg Salgado and Barbara Figueiredo of Brazil and third-seeded Florentina Büttner and Julia Sude of Germany. The Brazilians placed second in the FIVB U-18 World Championships in Thailand while Büttner and Sude are the silver medallists from the 2004 European U-18 finals last month in Poland.
With the three pool play wins, Barboza and Barry have bettered the efforts of the previous two American women's teams that have competed in the FIVB U-18 World Championships where United States tandems combined for a 1-6 record.
"We really don't feel any pressure about bettering the finishes of the other two teams," said Barboza, who has committed to play at Stanford. "Right now, we just would like to take advantage of this opportunity to represent our country and gain some more beach experience against the international competition."
Barboza and Barry enter this week's competition with only a "few matches together. We are still learning about each other's play on the beach, but at least we know each other due to our high school team," said Barboza. "The big difference we have noticed so far is the blocking of the international teams."
On the men's side, the United States advanced two teams to the elimination rounds of the FIVB World Championships for men under 18 years old after the team of Joseph Dykstra/Mark Van Zwieten won their final pool play matches on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Van Zwieten (Pompano Beach, Fla.) will play 10th-seeded Reid Hall/Adam Podstawka of Canada in the Round of 16 with the victor playing the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Mario Ferrera and Luis Troncoso Martinez of Spain and second-seeded Guilherme Ferreira and Roberto Pitta of Brazil in the afternoon.
Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Van Zwieten won two Pool K matches Friday, including a 21-23, 21-19 and 15-13 win over 20th-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Grzegorz Pajak of Poland and a 21-18 and 21-17 victory over fifth-seeded Sam Boehm and Shaun Howard of Australia.
Following Saturday's two rounds of play, the "final four" teams will advance to Sunday's semifinals and medal matches.
For more information on the FIVB and this tournament, go to the FIVB web site.
Seeded fourth in the women's competition on Rio Vivo Beach, Barboza and Barry completed Pool D play on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 match mark after scoring a 21-19 and 21-16 win over ninth-seeded Jillian McLeod and Alice Rohkamper of Australia. The Americans had opened pool play Thursday with wins over teams from Russia and Latvia.
By competing for the United States in the third annual FIVB U-18 World Championships, Barboza and Barry are skipping a week's practice at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. Barboza, who was a final cut for the United States Indoor National team for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, is a senior outside hitter for Wilson while Barry is a junior setter.
By protecting their seed in pool play, Barboza and Barry will play in the top half of the 16-team single-elimination bracket where 24th-seeded Oksana Bosjanok/Kadri Puri of Estonia captured the top spot by besting teams from host Italy, France and Switzerland.
The lower half of the elimination bracket will feature second-seeded Carolina Solberg Salgado and Barbara Figueiredo of Brazil and third-seeded Florentina Büttner and Julia Sude of Germany. The Brazilians placed second in the FIVB U-18 World Championships in Thailand while Büttner and Sude are the silver medallists from the 2004 European U-18 finals last month in Poland.
With the three pool play wins, Barboza and Barry have bettered the efforts of the previous two American women's teams that have competed in the FIVB U-18 World Championships where United States tandems combined for a 1-6 record.
"We really don't feel any pressure about bettering the finishes of the other two teams," said Barboza, who has committed to play at Stanford. "Right now, we just would like to take advantage of this opportunity to represent our country and gain some more beach experience against the international competition."
Barboza and Barry enter this week's competition with only a "few matches together. We are still learning about each other's play on the beach, but at least we know each other due to our high school team," said Barboza. "The big difference we have noticed so far is the blocking of the international teams."
On the men's side, the United States advanced two teams to the elimination rounds of the FIVB World Championships for men under 18 years old after the team of Joseph Dykstra/Mark Van Zwieten won their final pool play matches on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Van Zwieten (Pompano Beach, Fla.) will play 10th-seeded Reid Hall/Adam Podstawka of Canada in the Round of 16 with the victor playing the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Mario Ferrera and Luis Troncoso Martinez of Spain and second-seeded Guilherme Ferreira and Roberto Pitta of Brazil in the afternoon.
Dykstra (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Van Zwieten won two Pool K matches Friday, including a 21-23, 21-19 and 15-13 win over 20th-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Grzegorz Pajak of Poland and a 21-18 and 21-17 victory over fifth-seeded Sam Boehm and Shaun Howard of Australia.
Following Saturday's two rounds of play, the "final four" teams will advance to Sunday's semifinals and medal matches.
For more information on the FIVB and this tournament, go to the FIVB web site.
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