COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - The USA Men's National Team ended
their two match losing streak tonight with a three games to two victory
over Germany in World League 2001 play tonight at the Colorado Springs
World Arena. The USA won by scores of 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 15-
12. Germany put up a valiant effort winning games three and four, but it
was not enough for them to capture their first victory of World League
2001 as the USA won the decisive fifth game, 15-12.
The USA started off the match strong winning games one and two (25-20 and
23-25). Germany came back to win games three and four (25-23 and 25-
22). The USA showed it mettle and won the decisive game five by the
score of 15-12.
"I thought that Chris Seiffert, for his real pressure international
match, hung in there and we were able to pull out a win," said Doug Beal,
USA National Team Head Coach. "I don't think we played that particularly
well. I thought that we got out of our system, got pretty frustrated,
but we were able to pull together right at the end. I thought Sully
(Erik Sullivan) did a nice job setting the guys down a couple of times,
just to win was a good accomplishment tonight. They (Germany) certainly
helped us, they had an awful lot of serving errors and hitting errors. I
think that if we were a little bit more mature, a little bit more
experienced we would have won a lot easier than that, but I'm happy to
keep on the road anyway."
Tom Hoff, on his birthday, led the USA in scoring with 15 points (8 kills
and 6 blocks). Reid Priddy led Team USA in kills with 12, he added 2
blocks for a total of 14 points.
Germany, one of the top serving team in the World League, had an
uncharacteristic 32 service errors. Andrae Bjorn led Germany in scoring
with 18 points (16 kills and 2 blocks).
Germany and the USA will square off again tomorrow night at 7:00
p.m. at the Colorado Springs World Arena. This will be the final home
match of World League 2001 for the United States.
With the victory
tonight the USA (5-4) moves into a tie with The Netherlands (5-4) for
second place in Pool D rankings. Brazil leads Pool D with a record of 8-
1. Germany has a record of 0-9.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The USA Men’s National Volleyball
Team will host their final weekend of home matches of World League 2001
this weekend (June 9-10) when they square off against Germany. Both
matches begin at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time at the Colorado Springs
World Arena. Arena gates will open at 6:00 p.m. each night. Tickets are
still available and may be purchased at the World Arena Box Office (719-
576-2626). Tickets are also available at all King Soopers, Independent
Records, and all Tickets West (CNBO) outlets, or on the web at
www.usavolleyball.org.
Team USA (4-4) enters the weekend ranked third in Pool D behind
Brazil (7-1) and The Netherlands (5-3). Germany (0-8) comes to the
United States seeking their first win in 2001 World League play. The top
two ranked teams of each pool following the preliminary pool play will
advance to the final round in Katowice, Poland, June 25-30. The USA
Men’s National Volleyball Team defeated Germany on the road in Wuppertal,
Germany in their first two matches of World League 2001, May 12-13. In
their first match against Germany (May 12) the USA captured a three games
to one victory (36-34, 28-26, 20-25, 25-21). Team USA won their second
match against Germany (May 13) three games to zero (25-23, 25-22, 25-
10). The following weekend (May 19-20), in front of their hometown crowd
at the Colorado Springs World Arena Team USA split with The Netherlands
winning the first match (May 19) three games to two, but losing the
second match (May 20) one game to three. The following weekend, also at
home, they split with Brazil losing the first match (May 26) zero games
to three, but capturing a stunning victory in the second match (May 27)
three games to two. Team USA is coming into this weekend off of a two
game losing streak. The team dropped both matches, zero games to three,
last weekend (June 2-3) to Brazil in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The USA will have their most experienced roster since they
defeated The Netherlands on Saturday, May 19. Kevin Barnett will return
for his first match since the sudden death his father, Ken (heart attack)
in Chicago on May 23. Tom Hoff, who played in Brazil last weekend, is
getting close to 100% after straining his hip flexor in the match against
The Netherlands on May 19. The team; however, will likely be without
Scott Wong who has a sprained right thumb and Jeff Ptak who will miss the
remainder of the World League due to sore knees.
“I think our team has improved as the World League has gone on,”
said Doug Beal, USA Men’s National Volleyball Team Head Coach. “We
haven’t played or seen Germany since the opening weekend so certainly
they are a different team than when we won in Germany. We are looking
forward to having Kevin Barnett back. We hope that he will add some
experience and maturity to the team. Germany has proven to be one of the
really outstanding serving teams during the World League, scoring more
points, I think, than any other team serving. We are going to have to be
very good receiving and be able to run an offense that gives us a chance
to win. We are probably going to be without Scott Wong because of a
sprained thumb on his right hand. We’re looking forward to the matches
because we still have an opportunity to advance into the playoffs and
that’s obviously our goal. We have to win these matches, and I think we
have the ability to win so hopefully our team has matured a little bit
and we will have a good performance.”
This weekend marks the fifth and sixth matches of the $15 million
World League 2001 played at the Colorado Springs World Arena. The USA
Men’s National Team will travel to The Netherlands where they will play
the final two matches of the preliminary round of World League 2001 on
June 15 and 17.
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