Membership
Bill Kauffman
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 17, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Training Team will participate in two friendly exhibition matches versus Japan’s Girls’ Youth National Team on March 1 and March 2 in the Southern California area.
The March 1 exhibition will take place at 7 p.m. at St. Margaret’s Episcopal High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. The March 2 exhibition is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Concordia University in Irvine, Calif. Admission to either event will be $5 per person with all tickets purchased at the door. In addition, the Japan Girls’ Youth National Team is scheduled to train several times in Anaheim, Calif., at the American Sports Centers, the training headquarters for both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams.
The U.S. training squad is in the middle of its Winter Training block that started on Jan. 17 and will last through mid-April. Tentatively, 14 of the 16 players on the training roster will compete in the two scrimmages.
Japan’s Girls’ Youth National Team, which has qualified for the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth (U-18) World Championship, is being hosted by the U.S. Women’s National Team during an eight-day training block in Anaheim. The Japanese squad arrives in California on Feb. 25 and leave on March 4. During its stay, the team will train several times at the American Sports Centers. Gen Kawakita, an assistant coach on Japan’s Girls’ Youth National Team, was a volunteer assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team during the last Olympic Quadrennial and served as USA’s top assistant coach at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Click here for the exhibition flyer.
U.S. Women’s National Training Team Roster for Scrimmages
# - Name (Position, Hometown, College)
1 – Kayla Banwarth (Libero, Dubuque, Iowa, University of Nebraska)
2 – Ashley Benson (Middle Blocker, Bloomington, Ind., Indiana University)
3 – Kindra Carlson (Opposite, Eaton, Colo., University of Washington)
4 – Lauren Gibbemeyer (Middle Blocker, St. Paul, Minn., University of Minnesota)
5 – Jenna Hagglund (Setter, West Chester, Ohio, University of Washington)
6 – Naomi Johnson (Middle Blocker, Bloomington, Minn., Northwestern University)
7 – Carli Lloyd (Setter, Bonsall, Calif., University of California-Berkeley)
8 – Becky Perry (Outside Hitter, Austin, Texas, University of Washington)
9 – Kari Pestolesi (Outside Hitter, Huntington Beach, Calif., UC Irvine)
10 – Julianne Piggott (Outside Hitter, Newport Beach, Calif., UC Irvine)
11 – Kaitlin Sather (Outside Hitter, Santa Rosa, Calif., UCLA)
13 – Dominique Olowolafe (Middle Blocker, Lansing, Mich., Cal Poly)
14 – Cami Croteau (Libero, Orange, Calif., Cal State Fullerton)
17 – Ellie Blankenship (Libero, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, University of Northern Iowa)
Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Assistant Coaches: Karch Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.) and Paula Weishoff (Irvine, Calif.)
Technical Coordinator: Jenni Hirneisen
Japan Girls’ Youth National Team
# - Player (Position, Hometown, High School)
1 - Kaho Maruta (Setter, Nagasaki, Japan, Kyushu Bunka Gakuen H.S.)
2 - Tomoko Takahashi (Middle Blocker, Tokyo, Japan, Hachioji Jissen H.S.)
3 - Yui Asahi (Wing Spiker, Gifu Prefecture, Gifu Shogyo H.S.)
4 - Natsuko Tsujimura (Wing Spiker, Tokyo, Japan, Kyoei Gakuen H.S.)
5 - Asuka Nomura (Middle Blocker, Nagasaki, Japan, Kyushu Bunka Gakuen H.S.)
6 - Aya Horie (Wing Spiker, Osaka, Japan, Kenkoku H.S.)
7 - Saya Kaneda (Libero, Tokyo, Japan, Sundai Gakuen H.S.)
8 - Kasumi Nakaya (Wing Spiker, Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto Tachibana H.S.)
9 - Nozomi Ito (Middle Blocker, Nagasaki, Japan, Kyushu Bunka Gakuen H.S.)
10 - Sakura Doi (Wing Spiker, Akita, Japan, Akitakita H.S.)
11 - Mana Nakamura (Setter, Hiroshima, Japan, Hiroshima Municipal Numata H.S.)
12 - Honoka Kobayashi (Wing Spiker, Kanagawa, Japan, Kawasaki Municipal Tachibana H.S.)
Head Coach: Ichiro Hanzawa (Tokyo, Japan, Dai-ni Minamisuna Junior H.S.)
Assistant Coaches: Kumi Nakada (Tokyo, Japan, Sports Biz), Gen Kawakita (Tokyo, Japan, Japan Volleyball Association)
Trainer: Yoshio Koyanagi (Hyogo, Japan, Mukogawa Women’s University)