Aug. 10, 2007

USA vs. Sweden Box Score
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Courtesy of B.J. Evans, USA Volleyball

Bangkok, Thailand - Evan Patak led all scorers with 16 points and Paul Lotman and Robert Tarr each contributed 10 as the U.S. Men swept past Sweden, 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) on Friday at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand. The victory kept the U.S. Men undefeated in Pool C at 2-0 and put them in first place, just ahead of Poland, which is also 2-0 but has lost a set and has a worse points ratio than the United States. The U.S. Men have not lost a set in two matches so far. Sweden falls to 0-2.

Patak (Pleasanton, Calif./UC Santa Barbara) scored his points on 12 kills, two blocks and two aces. Lotman (Lakewood, Calif./Long Beach State) added 10 kills. Tarr (Cape Canaveral, Fla./Long Beach State) recorded seven kills, two blocks and one ace.
David Smith (Saugus, Calif./UC Irvine) scored eight points and Andy Hein (Carol Stream, Ill./Pepperdine) added six. Jonathan Winder (Irvine, Calif./Pepperdine) tallied three points and Jayson Jablonsky (Yorba Linda, Calif./UC Irvine) contributed two.

U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe went with the same starters he used on Thursday: Patak at opposite, Winder at setter, Lotman and Tarr at outside hitter, Hein and Smith at middle blocker and Alfred Reft (Oxnard, Calif./Hawai'i) at libero. However there were more substitutions as Jablonsky, Brian Thornton (San Clemente, Calif./UC Irvine), Matt Proper (Meadville, Pa./Penn State) and C.J. Macias (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./IPFW) all saw playing time.  Macias played in both the first and second sets for Team USA, giving Patak a breather.

The U.S. trailed in the first set, but tied the score at 12-12 before pulling ahead to win by seven. Patak recorded a team-high seven points in the first.

In the second set, Sweden made a late surge, shrinking the gap to three points at 23-20, before the U.S. Men closed it out. Sweden also remained within four points in the third set, as Winder recorded two points late to secure the win.

"We're continuing to get better," Winder said. "Today we played better than we did against Germany (on Thursday). The serving was good, and we made some adjustments against their offense. Sweden had a big lefty and I thought we did a good job against him. We didn't get a whole lot of blocks, but I think that we were able to control a lot of balls which is huge for us."
Left-handed Marcus Nilsson led Sweden with 15 points on 14 kills and one block.

 "I'm not sure we were really clean out of the gate today and ready to go. We were a little more prepared yesterday," Knipe said. "It took us a little while to get our focus, and once we did, we did a pretty good job. We struggled to deal with the higher set - it was slower than what we're used to. I thought that we adjusted as the match went on. The only time that we struggled, really, was when we made some unforced errors. But overall, I think the guys are starting to get comfortable playing with each other."

The United States outscored Sweden at the net, with 42 kills as compared to 32 for Sweden. The U.S. Men had nine blocks while Sweden had eight.

The United States is back in action on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time (1 a.m. PDT; 4 a.m. EDT) against Japan, which is 1-1.

U.S. World University Games Schedule (all times local)
Aug. 9 1 p.m. Japan def.. Chinese Taipei, 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-20)
Aug. 9 3 p.m. Poland def. Sweden, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20)
Aug. 9 5 p.m. USA def.. Germany, 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22)
Aug. 10 11 a.m. Germany def. Chinese Taipei, 3-1 (25-16, 25-13, 26-28, 25-22) 
Aug. 10 1 p.m. USA def. Sweden, 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21)
Aug. 10 1 p.m. Poland def. Japan, 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 29-27)   
Aug. 11 1 p.m. Poland vs. Chinese Taipei
Aug. 11 3 p.m. USA vs. Japan
Aug. 11 5 p.m. Germany vs. Sweden
Aug. 12 1 p.m. Chinese Taipei vs. Sweden
Aug. 12 3 p.m. Japan vs. Germany
Aug. 12 5 p.m. Poland vs. USA
Aug. 13 1 p.m. USA vs. Chinese Taipei
Aug. 13 3 p.m. Germany vs. Poland
Aug. 13 5 p.m. Sweden vs. Japan
Standings as of Aug. 10

Pool A
Ukraine 2-0
Canada 1-1
Egypt 1-1
Thailand 1-1
France 1-1
United Arab Emirates 0-2

Pool B
Turkey 2-0
Korea 1-1
Czech Republic 1-1
Switzerland 1-1
Brazil 1-1
China 0-2

Pool C
USA 2-0
Poland 2-0
Germany 1-1
Japan 1-1
Sweden 0-2
Chinese Taipei 0-2

Pool D
Russian Federation 2-0
Serbia 1-1
Italy 1-0
South Africa 0-2
Mexico 0-1