LONDON OLYMPICS
TRIPLE TIME: Clay Stanley, Russell Holmes and Reid Priddy formed a perfect wall in London. (Photo: Andrew P. Scott/USA TODAY) Dreams derailed 2012 OLYMPICS REVIEW —
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL • Medal Winners — Gold: Russia, Silver: Brazil, Bronze: Italy • Rest of the Field — 4th (Bulgaria), 5th (USA), 5th (Argentina), 5th (Germany), 5th (Poland), 9th (Australia), 9th (Serbia), 11th (Great Britain), 11th (Tunisia) • Summing up the U.S. Performance — Going in to the Olym- pics, those close to the U.S. men’s program knew it was going to be a hard road to the medal stand. Yes, they were the defending Olym- pic champs, but the retirement of veteran setter Lloy Ball was a huge loss to the team, and the lineup underwent many changes during the past few years. That contributed to less-than-hoped-for fi nishes at big tournaments, including sixth at the FIVB World Championship in 2010 and sixth at the FIVB World Cup in 2011. Optimism increased in London when the men advanced to the quarterfi nal with a Pool B leading 4-1 record that included an impressive four-set victory over Brazil. But the U.S. got a tough quarterfi nal draw in Italy, the even- tual bronze medalists. The Italians played well in that match, and the U.S. didn’t play its best. The result: a 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 victory for Italy that knocked the Americans out of medal contention. • Notable numbers by U.S. Players — Middle blocker Russell Holmes No. 2 in tournament in blocking with 0.81 per set; outside hitter Matt Anderson No. 8 in spiking effi ciency (32.6); opposite Clay Stanley No. 9 in spiking effi ciency (30.4); setter Donald Suxho No. 2 in setting average (10.14 per set). • What U.S. opposite Clay Stanley said — “Italy played great
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American men win pool and then fall to Italy in the quarterfi nals
and found their rhythm. They turned it up a notch and we turned it down. We worked four years for this. It’s kind of tough.” • What U.S. Coach Alan Knipe said — “It was frustrating for us. When we look back at this we will see we had lots of opportunities to win the fi rst set. We came in with a really good game plan and when we were in our game plan and executing it, we were winning points.” • Expert analysis by USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal — “We beat Brazil in pool play, which was a good win, but we have a strong history of playing well against Brazil. More telling might have been the loss to Russia in pool play. I think we played the best volleyball of any of the men’s teams right up until the third set against Russia. We were 3-0 in matches, and we clearly had a chance to end that Russia match 3-0. When we lost that match (27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 25- 16, 15-8), I think it hurt us. We had been this dominant, successful team that was playing consistently at a good level, and after that we were less consistent. I think that hurt our confi dence a little bit. And then we won our pool, but because of some of the surprises that happened in the other pools, we ended up drawing Italy in the quar- terfi nals instead of a team like Argentina or a lower-seeded team. Italy is clearly capable of being one of the two or three best teams in the world, and they were the day they played us. And we didn’t play our best match. One American player who really stood out in the tournament was Clay Stanley. He was outstanding in Beijing four years ago, and he might have been even better in London. He may have been the best player in the tournament up until the Russia match. Like with the women’s team, I’m very optimistic about this team going forward. I think we’re going to be very strong in Rio on the men’s side, too.”
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