Membership
Bill Kauffman
Associate Director, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 28, 2011) – Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas), an opposite hitter on the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team, earned the FIVB World Grand Prix most valuable player award after leading the Americans to their second straight and fourth overall gold medal in the event.
The second-ranked U.S. Women defeated top-ranked Brazil 26-24, 25-20, 25-21 on Sunday in the gold-medal match at the Macau East Asian Games Dome in Macau, China. The FIVB World Grand Prix is the premier annual international tournament for women’s volleyball.
Hooker finished the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round with 101 points for second in overall scoring. She totaled 90 kills, eight blocks and three aces, according to official FIVB stats. Hooker also ranked fourth Best Spiker with a 42.1 kill percent (90 kills on 214 attacks), 11th in Best Blocker with 0.44 blocks per set and 13th in Best Server with 0.17 aces per set. She led the U.S. Women in scoring in four of the five matches during the Final Round, which consisted of three pool play matches, the semifinals and medal matches.
During the entire tournament counting the nine preliminary round matches, Hooker totaled 228 points (199 kills, 21 blocks, 8 aces). She converted 44.3 percent of her attacks with a .356 hitting efficiency. She led the team in scoring in nine of the 14 matches, including a personal-international high of 30 points against Italy on Aug. 25 (per unofficial DataVolley Stats, she registered 34 points in the match).
The U.S. Women reached the title match by going 8-1 in the FIVB World Grand Prix preliminary round staged over three consecutive weekends. The Americans defeated Japan and Italy to start its Final Round pool before losing to Brazil in four sets. Team USA swept Serbia 25-22, 25-20, 25-21 in the semifinals, following by its victory over Brazil.
Hooker is the second consecutive American to win the FIVB World Grand Prix most valuable player as Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) earned the honor in 2010 after leading Team USA to the tournament’s gold medal.