   
 
 |
|
 Schedule/Results | Roster | News | Archives
Aug. 12, 2007
USA vs. Japan Box Score Courtesy of B.J. Evans, USA Volleyball Bangkok, Thailand - It took four sets instead of three, but the U.S. Men's Team competing at the World University Games beat Japan 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 26-24) on Saturday to remain undefeated in Bangkok, Thailand. The 3-0 U.S. Men will face Poland (3-0) on Sunday at 5 p.m. local time (3 a.m. PDT, 6 a.m. EDT) in a battle of undefeated teams. Saturday's second set was the first set loss for the United States in the tournament. On the next play, Andrew Hein (Carol Stream, Ill./Pepperdine), Paul Lotman (Lakewood, Calif./Long Beach State) and Jonathan Winder (Irvine, Calif./Pepperdine) put up a three-man scoring block to give the U.S. Men the victory. "Japan served a lot tougher than we expected them to," U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe (Long Beach State) wrote in an e-mail. "They tried hard to get Winder off the net. It was a good plan, but we passed well and they could not handle Hein and (David) Smith. I thought that we were okay in game one, we made a lot of errors to start game two, and gave them a pretty good margin and comfort level. Then in game three, we faced the first real gut-it-out fight that really showed we want to play well, we want to win these matches and we're going to lay it out. And, in game four, it could have gone either way all the way to the end. I thought our guys did a great job of keeping their composure, waiting for their opportunity, and when they got it, they made the plays down the stretch." Robert Tarr (Cape Canaveral, Fla./Long Beach State) added 15 points - all on kills - to the U.S. effort. David Smith (Saugus, Calif./UC Irvine) added 12 points on 11 kills and one block. Hein added 11 points on eight kills and three blocks. Lotman scored 10 points on eight kills and two aces. Winder scored four points on kills. Knipe went with his usual starting lineup of 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. C.J. Macias (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./IPFW), Brian Thornton (San Clemente, Calif./UC Irvine) and Jayson Jablonsky (Yorba Linda, Calif./UC Irvine) also substituted. "I'm really happy with the fact that we've been tested now," said Knipe. "We lost a set, and we went overtime in a set in points, 26-24, and we had to come from behind. These are all good things for us to build on as we go through the tournament." Japan's Kunihiro Shimizu led all scorers with 22 points, all on kills. U.S. World University Games Schedule (all times local) Standings as of Aug. 11 Pool B Pool C Pool D
|
|
  |
