WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Middle blocker Danielle Cuttino brought home a gold medal as a member of the U.S. Women's Junior National Team, leading the team to the title at the European Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia, on July 16. The 2015 event marked Cuttino's third straight summer as a medalist on a USA squad. Previously, she earned gold with the Junior National team at the 2014 NORCECA Championships in Guatemala and silver with the Youth National team at the 2013 under-18 FIVB World Championships.
After playing four exhibition matches in Italy and Slovenia, the Junior National Team topped Italy to claim the European Global Challenge title in Croatia on July 16. Team USA swept Hungary's A squad (25-22, 25-22, 25-12), fell to Italy (2-1 (19-25, 20-25, 27-25) and wrapped up pool play with wins over Falconara (25-14, 25-11, 25-18) and Slovenia Select to earn a bye in the opening round of elimination matches.
Team USA, which ranked first among the seven U.S. teams after pool play, swept BIP Southeastern, their first American foe to advance to the semifinals. A sweep of the Mountain West Conference All-Star team put the squad in the championship match against Italy, which had topped the United States three previous times on the European tour, twice in exhibitions and once during pool play. Team USA won the title match in five sets (25-21, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-12), finishing off the comeback with 11 of the final 15 points, including five of the final six, after trailing 8-4 at the changeover.
Blogs, photos, box scores and more from the U.S. Junior National team's Global Challenge tour are here. Cuttino's July 10 blog entry is here.