COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 9, 2011) – The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, which ended the FIVB World Cup second round with a 4-1 record and in second place with 12 standings points, will continue its march to Olympic qualification in the third round that starts Nov. 11.

Team USA, assisted by UC Irvine head coach, Paula Weishoff, started the Olympic qualification tournament being held in Japan with wins over No. 1 Brazil (4-1, 10 points), No. 5 Serbia (2-3, 8 points), No. 13 Korea (1-4, 4 points) and No. 15 Kenya (0-5, 0 points) before falling to No. 9 Germany (4-1, 11 points) on Wednesday. The Americans trail only undefeated Italy (5-0, 14 points) in the 12-team tournament that will send the three medal finishers to the 2012 Olympic Games.

After a travel day to Okayama, Japan, the U.S. returns to action on Nov. 11 against Argentina (2-3, 6 points) to start the third round. The Americans also play Algeria (0-5, 0 points) on Nov. 12 and NORCECA rival Dominican Republic (1-4, 3 points) on Nov. 13 in third-round action in Okayama. All three matches will be played at 6:20 p.m. local time (1:20 a.m. Pacific Time). Team USA will end the tournament in Tokyo with fourth-round matches against No. 6 China (4-1, 12 points) on Nov. 16, No. 7 Italy on Nov. 17 and No. 4 Japan (3-2, 10 points) on Nov. 18.

For the full FIVB World Cup schedule and tournament details, visit the U.S. Women's tournament event page at usavolleyball.org/events/8883.

"If someone had asked me coming out of the first round if you were 4-1 would you be happy, I would have to say yes," U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said after Team USA suffered its first loss of the FIVB World Cup on Wednesday to end the second round. "We have a lot of the tournament to go and I'm sure that we'll learn from tonight and we'll be better tomorrow."

Half the tournament field is within four standings points of each other heading into the final six matches of the tournament. The Americans' third round opponents are in eighth place (Argentina), 12th place (Algeria) and 10th place (Dominican Republic). However, the fourth stage in Tokyo picks up against third-place China, first-place Italy and sixth-place Japan.

"Nobody said this tournament was going to be easy," U.S. Women's National Team captain Lindsey Berg said. "It would have been great to go into the next round 5-0, but we're still 4-1 and our heads are high and we're going to keep fighting like we do and continue one game at a time. It's a long tournament."

"As we go through this tournament it's inevitable that there will be some adversity and it's really about how your teams choose to deal with that, so hopefully our team will respond appropriately," McCutcheon said.

Through the first two rounds and five matches, Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) is the Americans' leading scoring with 69 points (60 kills, 4 blocks, 5 aces) to ranked 10th overall among all players despite not playing an entire match against Kenya. She ranks second in Best Spiker with a 46.9 kill percent (60-128) and 14th in Best Server with 0.31 aces per set.

Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) has scored 48 points (26 kills, 19 blocks, 3 aces) for 25th place among Best Scorers in the tournament. She ranks first in Best Blocker with a 1.19 block average per set, despite missing an entire match as the normal starters did not compete versus Kenya.

Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) ranks 15th in Best Spiker with a 38.6 kill percent (32-83). Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) has averaged 0.50 blocks per set for 10th place in Best Blocker. Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.), who has started just one of five matches, ranks 15th in Best Server with a 0.31 ace average.

Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) has handed out 9.38 assists per set for fourth place in Best Setter. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) has averaged 2.94 digs per set for sixth place in Best Digger, while ranking 10th in Best Receiver with a 53.4 service reception efficiency (50-88). Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) has contributed a 58.6 service reception efficiency (61-99) for sixth place in Best Receiver.

In team rankings, the U.S. has converted 45.4 percent of its attacks for points for the third-best percent in the tournament as China leads the category at 46.3 percent. While an unofficial category, the Americans hold a tournament-leading .362 team hitting efficiency (232-47-511). Team USA is the second-rated team in blocking with a 3.25 block average behind Italy's 3.33 average. The Americans average 1.56 aces per set for third place as both Germany and Argentina average 2.06 aces per set. The U.S. averages 12.00 assists per set for third in the team setting category.

Additional information on the U.S. Women's National Team can be found in its FIVB World Cup press kit by clicking here.