Brazil drops U.S. men's volleyball to third-place match

By Steve Rivera
Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece — The U.S. men's volleyball team knew going in against Brazil it had to play near flawlessly to win.

USA's Clay Stanley spikes the ball past Brazil's Ricardo Garcia, left, and Gustavo Endres during USA's semifinal volleyball loss to Brazil. Stanley, a former University of Hawai'i player, tallied six points. Associated Press

"There was a lack of rhythm," said Stanley, a former University of Hawai'i player, who was referring to his team's first two games in which Team USA was outclassed and outplayed. "I wasn't very effective offensively. Not only myself, but the team needs to be great to beat this team. They are a great team. They run a phenomenal team offense. We have to play our best.

"You can't have a B game."

Team USA also played as the clear underdog as the 9,380 fans mostly rooted for Brazil. Whenever a USA pocket of fans started to chant "USA, USA, USA" they were out-shouted.

"I thought we had a strong USA contingent," said Reid Priddy. "They tried to get us going. (The crowd) didn't affect us as much as the last match (a win against host Greece)."

Brazil will play Italy in the gold medal game. The United States faces Russia for the bronze. Both matches are tomorrow.

"I think the two best teams are going to be playing for the gold medal, and I think that's great," U.S. coach Doug Beal said. "I'm disappointed we're not going to be there, but Brazil is just a wonderful team."

Team USA could never get going against Brazil, the high-flying, hard-hitting favorites to win the gold.

"We knew coming in we'd have to have a special effort," said USA team captain Lloy Ball, whose team got into the semifinal match by pulling out a miracle five-game match against Greece. "I'm really proud that our guys played really hard."

Brazil played nearly flawlessly while the United States struggled to stay close. In the three games, Team USA had only five leads — one in the first game at 6-5 and four in the third.

"It's hard to match their emotional (play)," said Ball, who played at the University of Indiana-Purdue. "They are by far the most emotional team out there. But I think it becomes deflating over time by the fact that we are always one step behind. They run a fast offense because they pass well. We could never catch up with them."

It didn't help that one of Team USA's best hitters, Stanley, didn't have a very good game. Stanley went into the match as the team's top scorer with 91, but was a non-factor with just six points, eventually sitting out most of the third game.

"We never got Clay going and they run the fastest offense in the world and it's tough to catch up to them if they get a lead," Ball said.

Stanley returned late in the third game to serve with the United States down 22-19. He helped close the gap to 22-21 but couldn't get the United States the victory to force a fourth game.

"I thought we'd pull it out," Priddy said. "But we didn't."

Beal said he's looking forward to playing Russia for the bronze medal. The Americans will play for their first medal since 1992, when they won a bronze in Barcelona.

"Our players are going to be very excited and very motivated to play for a medal for the first time ... in 12 years," Beal said.

usocpressbox.org contributed to this report.