Nicole Fawcett spikes in USA's win over Korea on Saturday
Matsumoto, Japan, August 22, 2015 – USA started off their FIVB World Cup campaign with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-15) win over Korea at Matsumoto City Gymnasium on Saturday.
Korea coach Lee Jungchul: Since this was our first match, I think the players were a little nervous; they especially looked nervous when they were hitting. But they worked hard and looked energetic. USA are a good team and don’t make many mistakes.
Korea captain Kim Yeon-Koung: We knew it would be a tough match because USA are the No. 1 team. I think we could have done better, but it was still a good opportunity for our young players to experience such a match.
USA coach Karch Kiraly: Korea is a very strong team and one of the best in the region, and they have one of the best outside hitters in the world in No. 10 (Kim Yeon Koung), so we faced some great challenges today. But we also found that we can get better at many things and we must before tomorrow.
USA captain Christa Harmotto Dietzen: We haven’t had the chance to play Korea much. They pose a number of challenges and have strengths such as a number of players being able to play in multiple positions. But we handled that challenge well; I think that’s one of the strengths of our team to be able to handle adversity. There were also some delays in the match and we responded to that well.
USA No. 15 Kimberly Hill: Korea is a good team and throw different things at us, so we had to focus on keeping the USA game the USA game. And we concentrated on keeping adjusted and staying focused throughout the match. It’s exciting to be part of the World Cup for the first time and I’m excited to be in Japan; it’s always fun to come here. We’re just taking things one match at a time and hope this World Cup goes well.