With the 2012 Summer Olympics just around the corner, Rant Sports is spotlighting some of the amazing athletes who will represent the United States of America in London.
Today, we preview the USA Women’s Indoor Volleyball team.
Since women’s indoor volleyball became a part of the Olympic Games in 1964, the American women’s team has yet to win Olympic gold, one of the most perplexing streaks in international volleyball.
Four years ago, at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Team USA lost the gold medal game to Brazil, having to settle for the silver.
Now, they are back, and this time, they are ranked as the No. 1 team in the world heading into London.
The USA Women’s volleyball has announced their 12-man roster.
Thirty-nine-year-old Daniel Scott-Aruda made the squad, becoming the first US volleyball player, male or female, to make 5 straight Olympic Games.
Other past Olympians on the roster include setter Lindsey Berg, outside hitter Logan Tom and opposite attacker Tayyiba Haneef-Park.
Newcomers include setter Courtney Thompson, middle blockers Foluke Akinradewo and Christa Harmotto, and liberos Nicole Davis and Tamari Miyashiro.
Three of the rising volleyball stars on the Olympic squad are opposite attacker Destinee Hooker and outside hitters Jordan Larson and Megan Hodge.
Hooker played for the Texas Longhorns, where she was a four-time All-American. While at Texas, she led the Horns to their first national championship appearance since 1988. Though her team would eventually fall to Megan Hodge’s Penn State Nittany Lions, Hooker was named the 2009 NCAA National Championship Most Outstanding Player.
In addition to the volleyball court, Hooker won three NCAA titles in the high jump while in Austin, becoming just the second woman to ever accomplish the feat.
Since her professional volleyball career began, she has been named the 2011 World Grand Prix “Most Valuable Player” and the 2011 World Cup‘s “Best Spiker.”
Jordan Larson spent her college career at the University of Nebraska, where she was a 3-time All-American and led the Huskers to 3 semifinal appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Megan Hodge won three NCAA volleyball titles while playing for the Penn State Nittany Lions, scoring the winning kill on match point in two of them. She was the first freshman to ever be named the Big 10 Player of the Year. She was a four-time first-team All-American and was named the NCAA National Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2007 and 2008.
The women’s Olympic team will be led by the former men’s volleyball coach, Hugh McCutcheon, who led the USA Men’s Volleyball team to an emotional Olympic gold in the 2008 Games in Beijing.
McCutcheon and his team are hoping that some of that same magic will carry over to the women this year as he and the USA Women’s Volleyball team attempts to capture their first-ever Olympic gold.
Join us again soon as we preview some of the amazing members of Team USA.
