That loss to Serbia, in retrospect, may have awakened the Americans, because the USA women have now won five in a row after whipping up on Argentina on Monday in Japan.
Team USA is 6-1 overall with 19 points and moved into the World Cup lead after previously undefeated Russia (6-1, 18 points) lost in five sets to Serbia (6-1, 16 points). China (5-1, 15 points) and Japan (5-1, 15 points) also have just one loss. The top two teams at the end of the 11-match round-robin tournament earns bids into the 2016 Olympic Games.
UCLA, Iowa upset
There were some interesting NCAA women’s results Sunday.
UCLA, ranked No. 20, was swept by Loyola Marymount.
Iowa was knocked off in four by Northern Illinois in the NIU Invitational behind a double-double by Mary Grace Kelly.
Stanford made surprisingly easy work of visiting Minnesota, notching 15 blocks and holding the Gophers to a .095 attack percentage.
And No. 4 Florida lost the first set but came back to win the next three to beat American University. it was the 900th victory in the program’s history and 744th at Florida for coach Mary Wise.
For all the opening-weekend scores, go to:
https://www.ncaa.com/scoreboard/volleyball-women/d1
Kropp-Branagh win in Chicago
Finally, the AVP Chicago also wrapped up Sunday.
Nicole Branagh and Jenny Kropp won the women’s, while Brad Keenan and Ty Tramblie won the men’s.
I have looked everywhere, from the AVP website to the Chicago papers and can’t find a story anywhere.
Luckily Megan Kaplon has this report for Volleyball magazine.
One cool note: April Ross (@AprilRossBeach) Tweeted this Sunday evening: “Just landed in Miami to the news that my hubby @Bradkeenan6 and Ty Tramblie won the Chicago tournament!!
