BEIJING — The U.S. men's volleyball teams stayed undefeated at the Beijing Olympics with a 3-1 victory over Bulgaria yesterday.

The United States was cold at the start but took the next two sets and held off Bulgaria in the end, 27-29, 25-21, 25-14 26-24 in round-robin pool play.

The United States is the only undefeated team in its pool, and the win assured the men a spot in the quarterfinals. Bulgaria fell to 2-1.

Clay Stanley, a Kaiser High and University of Hawai'i alum, led the United States with 18 kills, 2 blocks and an ace.

Stanley was clear about the team's goal.

"A medal. We want to play as hard as we can. We focus on every game so we can reach the medal round," he said. "I've told people every time our goal is to win a medal. We're not here just to show up."

Said middle blocker Ryan Millar: "It's not going to be easy. It is going to be hard. It's the Olympics. It's supposed to be hard."

The United States remained without head coach Hugh McCutcheon, who was with his family after his father-in-law was fatally stabbed while at a popular Beijing tourist site last weekend. His mother-in-law was badly wounded.

Assistant Ron Larsen was serving as interim head coach.

The U.S. team adjusted after dropping the first set, finding ways to stop Bulgarian spiker Matey Kaziyski. Stanley's spike was the second set winner.

Bulgaria became frustrated in the third, and even coach Martin Syoev at one point slumped in his chair, shaking his head. Todor Aleksiev threw up his hands when his team missed what should have been an easy return.

Trailing for most of the fourth set, Lloy Ball's key block late turned the momentum for the U.S.

"I think we're starting to realize our potential," wing-spiker Reid Priddy said. "I think some things we do really well, and when we don't do something really well, we're able to figure it out and still win."

Kaziyski had 18 points for Bulgaria.

Bulgaria was without captain Plamen Konstantinov, who has returned to Bulgaria to take a drug test after an earlier test raised suspicions of possible doping.

Konstantinov has missed all three of his team's Olympic matches in preliminary pool play.

There are 12 men's teams competing in Beijing, divided into two pools. The top four teams will emerge from round-robin play into the quarterfinals.

In earlier games yesterday, Italy defeated Venezuela 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-21), Germany defeated Egypt 3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-21), Poland defeated Serbia 3-1 (31-29, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21) and China defeated Japan 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 16-25, 15-10).

Russia defeated top-ranked Brazil 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 31-29, 25-19). Brazilian wing-spiker Giba played only briefly because of a sore shoulder.

SWIMMING

Daniel Coakley, a Kealakehe High alum and a member of the Philippines team, swam his personal best and finished 39th out of 97 swimmers in the 50-meter freestyle preliminaries in the National Aquatics Center.

The top 16 advanced to today's semifinals. Amaury Leveaux of France was the top qualifier in 21.46 seconds. Coakley finished in 22.69. The 16th place finisher — Gideon Louw of South Africa — finished in 22.17.

Coakley's previous best was his Olympic-qualifying 22.80.

MEN'S WATER POLO

The Americans had plenty of chances to upset Serbia, but they were 2-of-27 shooting and couldn't score on three of their five power-play opportunities against a backup goalkeeper in a 4-2 loss.

Team captain Tony Azevedo was 0-for-8, including a missed penalty shot. "After missing the first couple, it seemed like I kept forcing it," he said. "It was totally in my head, not taking the time to relax and put it where I needed to put it."

Punahou alum Brandon Brooks, a backup U.S. goalkeeper, did not play against Serbia.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO

Former University of Hawai'i water polo player Iefke van Belkum scored two goals for the Netherlands in a 10-9 loss to Australia today in a women's preliminary match at Yingdong Natatorium.

Meike De Nooy, who will return to Manoa this year, did not play for the Netherlands.

The group placings for the medal round will be determined later today.