News

Colorado, USA, June 4, 2005 - Brazil spoiled the debut of “Jenny” Lang Ping as head coach of the USA women’s national Volleyball team as they posted a 3-1 victory in the second match of the “Front Range Tour” in Colorado on Saturday.

Thaisa Menezes scored a team-high 21 points and Adenizia Silva added 14 points in the 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23 victory as Brazil rebounded from a 3-0 loss in the opener on Thursday in Denver.

Brazil faced a different American team on Thursday. That team, which was led by Olympians Danielle Scott, Tayyiba Haneef and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos and coached by Paula Weishoff, departed on Saturday for the Montreux Volley Masters tournament in Switzerland .

Lang Ping, hired by USA Volleyball on Feb. 7 of this year, will be taking the young team that played on Saturday to the Dominican Republic to compete in the Pan American Cup beginning June 10.

“The only person who was able to put the ball away tonight consistently was Nancy (Metcalf), but she is our most experienced player,” said Lang Ping. “Most of the players on this team are young. I want to see how they can perform at a higher level. We have been training very hard. But our young players don't have enough ball control and game experience yet.

“You can see it; it’s pretty obvious compared to Brazil,” she added. “And Brazil is a very young team too. That’s our situation. We have to be patient and we have to deal with it. We just have train and play and train and play until they get better.”

Menezes had 15 kills and a match-high six blocks while Silva had 10 kills, three blocks and one service ace. Regiane Bidias chipped in with 13 points.

Metcalf, a 2004 Olympian, led all scorers with 25 points on 22 kills and three blocks for Team USA .

“I think the girls fought hard,” said Metcalf of her team mates. “We played as hard as we could and we gave it effort. But we needed to have some more ball control tonight and cut back on our own errors. You could tell Brazil has been practicing together and playing for a long time; they looked very, very fluid as a team.

“That’s something we want to improve,” she added. “But with experience I think things will get better. I know this team has a lot of potential and we’re going to keep working to reach as much as we can.”

Elisha Thomas scored 11 points on six kills, four blocks and one ace for the United States. Cynthia Barboza added nine points on nine kills while Jennifer Joines registered eight points on seven kills and one block.

The “Front Range Tour” concludes on Monday in Colorado Springs.