Americans had won nine previous meetings between the two teams.
The U.S. routed Cuba 3-0 in the final pool play match to advance to the second stage of the tournament, but a five-set loss to Brazil in the quarterfinals left them in a four-way tie for fifth and ended their Olympics. “We showed everything we had, our weak- nesses, our strengths,” Yoshida said afterward, “but it wasn’t enough.”
Beijing, 2008 • • • • • • • • • • • •
Men — Finish: gold medal • Record: 8-0 (5-0 in pool play, 3-0 in finals) • Team: Lloy Ball, Sean Rooney, David Lee, Rich Lambourne, Reid Priddy, Ryan Millar, Riley Salmon, Tom Hoff, Clay Stanley, Kevin Hansen, Gabe Gardner, Scott Touzinsky. • Head coach: Hugh McCutcheon
The volleyball competition in Beijing was preceded by a tragedy when Todd Bachman, the father-in-law of coach Hugh McCutcheon, died from wounds suffered in a knife attack at a Beijing tourist site. McCutcheon missed the U.S.’s first three Olympic matches to be with his family.
McCutcheon has always made it clear that there shouldn’t be a connection between the tragic event and the success the U.S. men’s team had on the volleyball court. “Some people would say that what hap-
pened off the court brought the team together, but to me that does them a huge disservice,” McCutcheon says. “We didn’t come out of no- where. We had won FIVB World League three weeks before and beaten Brazil four of the last five times we played them. It was clear we were among the best teams in the world. It was never a case where the team wasn’t very good and then all of a sudden we became world beaters.”
The U.S. went 8-0 in Beijing, winning all five pool-play matches and then running the table in the final round with a 3-2 win over Serbia in the quarterfinal, a 3-2 win over Russia in the semifinal and a 3-1 victory over Brazil in the gold-medal match. Clay Stanley, a 6-9 opposite from Honolulu, earned MVP honors as well as “Best Scorer” and “Best Server” by being a dominant force throughout the tournament. “He was so terminal – serving and hitting and blocking and digging balls,” McCutcheon says. “He was everywhere.”
Especially notable, too, were outside hit- ters Reid Priddy and Riley Salmon and setter Lloy Ball, who finished his Olympic career on a high note after non-medal finishes in three previous Games.
In reviewing the gold-medal performance, McCutcheon is reluctant to focus on indi-
BEIJING BONANZA: Lloy Ball was part of an American medal party in Beijing in 2008, one that included three gold medals and two silvers (including U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team in Paralympics). (Photo: FIVB).
vidual play. “I thought the key to our series of victories was about us being a team,” he says. “We really believed that was our strength, and it showed in how we had lots of different ways we could attack opponents and how the guys played so unselfishly.” Women — Finish: silver medal •
Record: 6-2 (4-1 pool play, 2-1 in finals) • Team: Ogonna Nnamani, Danielle Scott-Arruda, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Lindsey Berg, Stacy Sykora, Nicole Davis, Heather Bown, Jennifer Tamas, Kim Glass, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Kim Willoughby, Logan Tom. • Head coach: Lang Ping
Count this team among the overachievers in U.S. women’s volleyball history. By all accounts, this team got frequent and major boosts from its bench – “We did a lot of sub- bing,” setter Lindsey Berg said – and found its groove at the right time. Two years before the Olympics, a different version of the team had finished ninth at the 2006 FIVB World Championship, but a year later, with the return of veteran outside hitter Logan Tom, libero Stacy Sykora and the ad- dition of hard-hitting University of Arizona outside hitter Kim Glass, the team qualified for Beijing with a bronze medal at the 2007
FIVB World Cup in Japan.
In Beijing, there was seemingly always someone to step in if help was needed. Tom anchored one outside hitter spot, and Kim Glass saw most of the action at the other OH position, but Ogonna Nnamani and Kim Wil- loughby also contributed on the outside. In the middle, Heather Bown and Danielle Scott were the starters, but in a pool-play match against Venezuela when the team was sputter- ing, reserve middle Jen Tamas came off the bench to help turn it around. At setter, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos was the starter but Lindsey Berg saw almost as much playing time. With all hands on deck, the U.S. scored a huge five-set victory over Italy in the quarter- final, coming back from down 2-1 in sets. In the semis, they took care of an old nemesis, Cuba, in three sets.
That sent them to the gold-medal match against Brazil, where they fell in four. But the mood was mostly upbeat afterward. After all, the silver medal equaled the highest finish in U.S. women’s history, and it had been 24 years since the last one.
“Brazil ended up being better, but we fought every match,” Berg said. “We never gave up, and we just kept going.”
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