Yikes, it was a tough start for the women against Japan, but they pulled it out 3-1. As the fourth seed, they need to do better if they want to score a medal.
For all of the press around Logan Tom returning to the indoor game, she wasn't the force I hoped for, at least not yet. (And she's harder to spot with the long hair!) She was pretty solid on defense, but really struggled in the front row.
Japan's defense was so ridiculous, and that's where we were hurting. I'm surprised to see Stacy Sykora is not the starting libero because I was blown away by her in 2004. Nicole Davis is pretty good though, and adorably tiny at 5'4". Unfortunately, they weren't using Sykora enough early on while the hitters struggled to pass, especially on serve receive. Putting her in cleaned up the defense and made a world of difference.
I'm not fond of Robyn Ah Mow-Santos as setter. She's accurate, but she doesn't read the defense well enough to make the right decisions. I mean, when you've got an opponent with a 5'3" setter, there's gonna be a gaping hole in the block, so use it! And while I'm all for moving the ball around, if you have a particular hitter who is dominant against a weaker blocking team, use them. I like Lindey Berg setting better for that reason. She's not as fast, but I think she's a better decision maker.
Hopefully they'll get these issues worked out, and step up the defense. Japan was an easy to read team, and you've gotta react and take advantage of that.