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Aug. 17, 2007
USA vs. Turkey Box Score
Courtesy of B.J. Evans, USA Volleyball Bangkok, Thailand - The U.S. Men's World University Games volleyball team will play Italy for the bronze medal after losing 0-3 (21-25, 26-28, 37-39) to defending World University Games champion Turkey on Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand. The loss was the first for the U.S. Men (6-1) in the tournament. They will play Italy (6-1), which lost to Canada 1-3 (25-20, 18-25, 19-25, 21-25) in Thursday's other semifinal, for the bronze medal on Saturday at 11 a.m. local time (9 p.m. Friday PDT, midnight EDT) at Thammasat University. Turkey will play Canada in the gold-medal match on Saturday at 2 p.m. local time (midnight PDT; 3 a.m. EDT) at Thammasat University. "Turkey is an experienced team," U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe (Long Beach State) said. "And it's great experience for our guys who, with the exception of a few, have no international experience at this level. They played against a team with a lot more matches than they have, and Turkey won it last time (in 2005)." Evan Patak (Pleasanton, Calif./UC Santa Barbara) came back from injury to lead the United States with 14 points on 10 kills, two blocks and two aces. Jayson Jablonsky (Yorba Linda, Calif./UC Irvine) scored 12 points on 12 kills. Paul Lotman (Lakewood, Calif./Long Beach State) and Andrew Hein (Carol Stream, Ill./Pepperdine) each scored nine points. David Smith (Saugus, Calif./UC Irvine) added eight points and Jonathan Winder (Irvine, Calif./Pepperdine) totaled five, including a team-leading three blocks. Knipe started Lotman and Robert Tarr (Cape Canaveral, Fla./Long Beach State) at outside hitter, Hein and Smith at middle blocker, Patak at opposite and Winder at setter. Alfred Reft (Oxnard, Calif./Hawai'i) continued to play libero. Jablonsky substituted for Tarr, who scored two points in the match, in the first set and went on to start the second and third sets. Setter Brian Thornton (San Clemente, Calif./UC Irvine) and opposite Matt Proper (Meadville, Pa./Penn State) each substituted. The U.S. Men scored the first point of the match, but Turkey took control of the first set and never let up, winning 25-21. The lead flip-flopped throughout the second set, and Smith and Patak had late kills, each giving the United States the advantage, when Turkey gained control for the eventual 26-28 win. Team USA opened the third set with a 4-2 lead before Turkey tied the score at 6-6, and later at 13-13. From that point on, neither team led by more than one point and the two fought to gain the advantage. Both teams held set point (match point for Turkey) several times before Turkey prevailed, 39-37. Volkan Gug led Turkey with 17 points on 16 kills and one block. Five other Turkish players each scored eight points. Turkey scored on 35 U.S. errors while giving up only 25 points on errors. "We made a lot of unforced errors early, and we didn't really play that bad as the game went on. We just could never really get back," Knipe said. "We had a chance to win Game 2, and then a number of opportunities in Game 3. "Overall, we're playing for a medal still. We're playing a great team in Italy for the bronze, so we have to quickly shift our focus and approach it like we have every match. Italy has a long tradition of being a good volleyball country. They're talented like all four teams that are left, so it should be a good match." IPFW senior outside hitter C.J. Macias did not play in the match. 2007 World University Games
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