Russia rallies past U.S. women in five
Advertiser Staff and Wire Services
ATHENS, Greece — Realizing the situation their American teammates were in, the United States' softball team visited their volleyball sisters Thursday night in hopes of supplying inspiration.
Associated Press
"They were in the same position in 2000; they were the No. 1 seed and they lost three games and came back to win a gold," U.S. hitter Tayyiba Haneef said. "That sparked our energy."
USA's Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, a former University of Hawai'i standout, makes a save as teammate Prikeba Phipps looks on during their preliminary round volleyball match against Russia, which upset the top-ranked Americans, 20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11.
Not quite enough.
Two days after a humiliating five-game defeat against the Dominican Republic, the United States' women again lost in five (20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11), this time to Russia.
Team USA never led in the final game, but trailed by just one at 11-10. Former University of Hawai'i All-American Heather Bown hit her serve into the net, starting Russia's match-ending 4-1 spurt.
The Americans are 1-3 in pool play and their hopes of medaling for the first time since 1992 are in serious doubt.
To advance to the quarterfinals, the United States must defeat Cuba tomorrow. The Cubans, who have already qualified for the quarterfinals, won the last three Olympic gold medals. The Americans own the tie-breakers over the other teams in their pool that could finish with identical 2-3 records.
"I don't think anyone would think it would turn out like this," said U.S. outside hitter Logan Tom, who led the team with 15 kills yesterday. "I don't think anyone ever thinks it would turn out like this in the Olympics."
Especially not for a team ranked No. 1 in the world entering the Games. Erratic play combined with an inability to grab momentum in the decisive fifth game has put them in this awkward position.
"I don't think something is missing," libero Stacy Sykora said. "We got off to a bad start, and couldn't get that fight. We had it, but we just didn't win. We obviously changed (since the defeat against the Dominican). When we play Cuba, hopefully you'll see a better U.S. volleyball team. We're going to play a beautiful game. You're going to see USA volleyball at its best."
USA volleyball wasn't at its worst yesterday, but that couldn't be its best. Could it?
After taking a tight first game, the momentum of the match rotated back and forth. Playing in front of a half-full arena that was more anti-U.S. than pro-Russia, the Americans lost the second. Team USA appeared to have the momentum needed to close out the Russians after winning Game 3, but Russia's tall front line posed problems for the American hitters.
"We were a more united team," Russian coach Nikolai Karpol said. "It was the most important match for us so far, and today we had the best performance we've had so far. It was a very interesting match. The USA desperately needed to win in order to go forward and that is why they had less options."
Cuba and the United States have met five times this year. Cuba won the first four before getting swept by Team USA in the bronze-medal match at the World Grand Prix on Aug. 1.
"Cuba is Cuba," Tom said. "They're big bangers; they're a great team. We've played them a lot and we have to come out prepared to fight because they're going to come out and fight."
Athens2004.com contributed to this report.
