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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 10:08 a.m., Sunday, August 12, 2007

World Univ. Games: U.S. volleyball outlasts Poland

By Dennis Passa
Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand — The United States men's volleyball team remained undefeated at the World University Games, outlasting Poland, 25-22, 34-32, 22-25, 17-25, 15-13, today.

Former University of Hawai'i player Alfred Reft was the starting libero for the American team (4-0).

The U.S. women's softball team edged Japan 3-2 in preliminary play. Sara Lovestrand's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth gave Team USA (1-1) the win.

"We really hit the ball well and got another great outing from Dana (Alcocer)," co-head coach Beth Keylon-Randolph said.

Amanda Byers led the U.S. offense, going 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Renee Welty added a pair of hits and a run. Alcocer earned the win in relief, pitching 7 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out five.

Kalaheo High School graduate Jessika Ngirblekuu, who played at Palm Beach Community College (Fla.), is a member of the softball team. The team is made up of junior college players.

In women's basketball, Australia defeated Canada 66-53. UH senior Tanya Smith didn't score in Australia's win.

The United States, represented by the University of North Caroline-Charlotte, lost its first game in the medal round to the Czech Republic 79-76. The Americans led after three quarters but the Czechs outscored the U.S. 22-16 in the fourth.

Tereza Peckova's jumper with 28 seconds left gave the Czech Republic a one-point lead and they held on for the win.

The loss dropped the Americans to 2-2. They will face Chinese Taipei on Tuesday and need a win to remain in the hunt for a medal.

"I'm really disappointed we didn't finish the game with the same defensive urgency that we played with for three quarters," said U.S. head coach Karen Aston, who is also the UNCC coach. "We played a very good basketball team today but we just did not finish the job that we started."

The U.S. men, represented by the University of Northern Iowa, beat Turkey 87-65 in a second-round game.

Yesterday, British sprinter Simeon Williamson finished first in the 100 meters and thought he had his country's first gold.

Early today, he was told he'd have to hand it in and run the race again because two teams — China and the Ukraine — complained that timing sheets showed he left the blocks 0.0001 seconds before the allowed reaction time.

Today, about 23 hours after winning the first race, Williamson won the second in 10.22 — faster than his 10.28 yesterday — and finally claimed the gold. The top finishers were the same as earlier, with China's Zhang Peimeng taking silver and Canadian Neville Wright the bronze.

The race today was run in pouring rain at a near-empty stadium. When Williamson crossed the line, he turned sideways to his opponents and put his index finger over his mouth in a mocking attempt to silence the other runners.

In the pool, world record holder Yana Klochkova of the Ukraine won the women's 400-meter individual medley in a time of 4:37.50, nearly five seconds slower than the world mark she set at the world championships in Melbourne, Australia, in April.

American Kaitlin Sandeno, who beat Klochkova in the 200 IM on Friday, was second, more than four seconds behind.

The U.S. men won the 800 freestyle relay in 7:13.72, improving by nearly three seconds the games record they set in qualifying earlier in the day. It was sixth gold medal for the Americans at the games, all in the pool.

It marked the seventh time in four days that a U.S. relay broke the games record. Matt McGinnis, Adam Ritter, Doug Van Wie and Michael Klueh were on the American team Sunday.

"I was really pleased with the results — I think everyone on the relay had something to prove going into it," said McGinnis. "We had some good chemistry and we all stepped up."