Jul 12

Womens Sitting Drops Two Matches against Top Teams in the World

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 12, 2012) –The U.S. Women’s National Sitting Team traveled to Shanghai in one of its last attempt at practice before the 2012 London Paralympics.

Team USA, ranked second in the world will face No. 1 ranked China and No. 3 ranked Ukraine in three days of double-header exhibition matches, playing each team once each day.

The U.S. held its own but unfortunately fell to both teams in hard-fought battles.

In its first match on Thursday morning the U.S. fell to China in five sets, 25-18, 25-17, 25-27, 21-25, 15-13.

"This is a grueling schedule for us but we need high level matches in our final preparations for London,” head coach Bill Hamiter said. “Even though we don't often play two matches a day and never back to back the coaches wanted the teams to get as much play as possible. I realize this isn't a best case scenario but it will be good to see how our team responds.

In its second match of the day the U.S. fell to Ukraine, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20.

"After the tough match against China I was happy to see us start out well against Ukraine,” Heather Erickson said. “We lost energy and momentum in the second set and couldn't seem to get it back. We have to play at a higher level than this even when we are tired.

On Friday Team USA will play Ukraine at 11 a.m. (8 p.m. PST) and China at 1 p.m. (10 p.m. PST) and on Saturday they will conclude play against China at 11 a.m. (8 p.m. PST) and Ukraine at 3 p.m. (12:00 p.m. PST).

U.S. Women’s Sitting Team
Name (Hometown/UCO Resident Athlete)

Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.)
Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla./UCO Resident Athlete)
Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete)
Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla./UCO Resident Athlete)
Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete)
Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.)
Brenda Maymon (Charlestown, Ind.)
Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.)
Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resident Athlete)
Lora Webster (Phoenix, Ariz.)