USA NT 2019

    The weird thing is they could've send another MB to replace her if she's actually injured. Adams, P. Tapp and Butler are not in the Pan Am roster anyway so why not use them? The former brings a lot of experienced while the latter two could use more and this is the perfect setting for that.

    Quote from Ridehard10

    OKAY guys...just saw an unmistakably pregnant (5+ months) Foluke Akinradewo with the father, Mr. Gunderson, whose surname the baby will have. Congrats! (See Instagram: "folukea") THAT explains quite a lot of unknowns and questions regarding her missing-in-action so to speak. Seems to still be 2020-commited.

    Foluke s husband is Mr Gunderson. They married last summer.

    Well, the USA just squeaked by Bulgaria in the IOQT (-21, +18, -21, +20, +10). Soooo: they face Argentina next. They'll need to defeat them; if not and Bulgaria beats Kazakhstan 3-9 or 3-1, then the Eastern European nation will move on to the Olympics as the AQ. As I stated in a different thread, anything can happen!

    We're Tokyo bound!!!! Surprisingly not a cakewalked like most would expect but we're in so...Yay! But....The USWNT have a lot of work to do if they want to be on the podium in Tokyo.



    The biggest things we've learned this season:



    ▪Courtney is not the solution to our libero problem. She's okay but we need her to be way WAY better than that. If any of the trained libero candidates in the USA gym/system right now can't win or challenge for that spot then we're probably screwed, unless...



    ▪KRob goes back and takeover that position. It's really between her and Larson but KRob's reaction time is better than Larson. Having both of them on the floor with either Hill or MBH will solve a lot of our problems with reception and consistent terminating on the left.



    ▪Our Opps this season seemed to be a lot more consistent and reliable than the previous placeholders. It used to be a big question mark followed by an exclamation point. Now I love the Drews/ Thompson duo but I'm not going to count Lowe out just yet but she really needs to have a stellar pro season if she wants to keep her Olympic hopes alive. Then you have Cuttino, along with Thompson and Plummer I think she has a very high ceiling and worth a look and investment



    ▪ Carlini has cemented herself as the number 1 setter this season. Hancock is very much still in the picture and could easily challenge Poulter for that backup role. Carlini is best when it comes to defense. Hancock with setting decisions and Poulter with utilizing and connecting with the middles.



    ▪ Before the announcement I thought Akinradewo is for sure going to be in the Olympics. Not so sure now. We still don't know what's going on with Ogbogu. Dixon doesn't get enough love but she, for now, I would think is the only one lock for Tokyo. Then in the order of chance of being there with her would be Ogbogu, Washington, Adams, H. Tapp, Alhassan, Rettke, Rosenthal, Butler, P. Tapp.



    ▪We live and die with our reception. Great team knows how to salvage an imperfect pass. We need to learn how to be better out of system.

    Great thoughts! Agree with that all. I have doubts about Akinradewo now as well and I’m worried about Ogbogu being MIA. MH seems like a weakness right now with the information we have, but not as much as Libero. That is just painful to watch and not have an answer.

    Foluke will be on the team. She’s giving birth in the fall, plenty of time to get back into shape. She will not be playing overseas, but be in the gym all winter in Anaheim.

    One more Olympics without gold, but this time even without medal.


    Hard predicition but 2012-2016 generation was waaay better than this one... Especially when they don't have beast in attack as top 3 teams now.

    I hope Karch will leave this team after Tokyo, he destroyed their chances because He is stubborn as hell.

    Quote from Spyro

    What has Karch done wrong this year? He can't create an Egonu out of nowhere. And please, don't tell me he should call Hooker back :aww:

    He should call her way, way before.

    Quote from QueenPiccininiLover


    Quote from Spyro

    She was there in London 2012 and didn't help her team to win the Gold. Only Logan Tom showed up in the Gold medal match

    She was the MVP of Olympics, what are you talking about ? USA was amazing team, lead by Hooker.

    Quote from crovolley

    She was the MVP of Olympics, what are you talking about ? USA was amazing team, lead by Hooker.

    KYK was the MVP in London

    *Best spiker, my bad

    I don't think Courtney is the perfect libero for USA. Though krob was amazing during VNL and OQ this year as OH. I still think that she is better as libero which we really need for that position. We already have hill, mbh and larson who can do the job as OH. But libero, who else can do better than her? Or maybe lock Courtney and get 5 OH including krob. Let her play as libero for an offensive team like china, serbia and italy and we will have a big chance.

    Quote from crovolley

    One more Olympics without gold, but this time even without medal.


    Hard predicition but 2012-2016 generation was waaay better than this one... Especially when they don't have beast in attack as top 3 teams now.

    I hope Karch will leave this team after Tokyo, he destroyed their chances because He is stubborn as hell.

    Are you trying to fill the position for bashing karch in the absence of Shame?😂


    He is trying to implement a lot of youngsters and so far seems to be a good move by him. I don't think he is doing a bad job