I don't like American team in this tournament. Everybody is showing less than what they are capable of. Akinradewo has never been a good blocker so if she is not used as a scoring player in a team, she will be very useless. In theory, Hill&Larson duo should most balanced OH duo in the world but both are quite bad at both attacking and reception. Opp is still a problem. Dixon is not showing anything special. They should play with Gibby instead. The only thing I like about this team is Robinson. She plays like a very experienced libero and she is one of the best of this tournament so far, she is very consistent especially at reception. I hope she can show such good performance in Vakifbank this year. All in all, I won't be surprised if they will be out of semis with a defeat against NED
I agree with you on some things, but I have different opinions about others. This WCH Larson has been superb in attack, especially these last few games where no one is stepping up, she always scores when needed.. wheather it's a hard hit, or smart tip she does her job, leads by example. It's true Hill is playing badly, her reception is shaky, but also she gets defended pretty easily even on those super fast sets, which hasn't been the case so far. In her defense Carli has been giving her many balls off the net, and there's no way to use those. I agree on Akinradewo, but she has had quite a few blocks this WCH.. to be honest I think her attacking is bad, especially today, but of course all the sets she got were trash. Even if the set is good, Carli is running such a predictable offense that Foluke faces 2 blockers most of the time. Dixon has been useless I agree.. Gibby should start, maybe even Adams. The OPPs are not that disappointing this tournament IMO.. Lowe has been good most of the time, whether it's part of the double sub, or playing full time.. And Murphy was good today, and yesterday too.. problem is Carli forgets about them, especially when back row. The thing I liked during the friendlies against Brazil is that Micha and Lauren, both used them on the pipe, or simply setting a right backcourt attack.. also Micha is using Hill on the pipe a lot, and she has been successful in that.. The most disappointing player for me is Carli.. she's simply playing bad. Bad decisions, predicatble sets, not enough creativity, many bad sets to the MBs (if given any balls). I'm not blaming her though, she's a very talented setter, but this system is not meant for her and that's about it. Micha was doing a much better job.