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U.S. Men's Volleyball Team To Play For Gold

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A Tribune wire report

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 23, 2008

BEIJING - Lloy Ball has a knack for making strong suggestions without saying a word.
David Lee was receiving those painfully obvious non-verbal messages throughout the final three sets of the U.S. men's volleyball semifinal against Russia.

It wasn't until the match's most crucial points that Lee finally responded.

"Russian middle blocker Alexander Volkov killed us all match, and Lloy's looking at me the whole time like, 'Do something! Stop him once,'" Lee said. "I got him at the end."

With the fifth set tied at 12, Lee was all alone trying to block another Volkov quick attack. Lee not only stuffed Volkov, but the ball actually hit Volkov in the head on the way to the floor. Lee followed with a kill two points later and another block on match point, sending the U.S. team into a wildly emotional celebration - and into the gold-medal match against Brazil on Sunday.

The 25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13 win against Russia, a team the U.S. is 2-12 against since 1996, assured the Americans of their first medal since their bronze in 1992. The U.S. team also won gold in 1984 and 1988.

It also continues an impressive showing from USA volleyball, which features the gold-medal winners in both men's and women's beach volleyball and has both indoor teams in gold-medal matches.

For Ball, a 36-year-old four-time Olympian, the gold-medal match is the ideal way to end his Olympic career.

"I've been dreaming about it since I was 4 years old," he said. "Since my dad and I sat in our living room watching our old Zenith that you had to push the buttons to change the channel. We were watching the guys in '84 and '88 win gold medals. That's why I chose volleyball over basketball. That's why I brought my kid halfway around the world.

"I said at the beginning that winning or losing wasn't going to affect how I felt about myself as a player. But it sure as hell is going to be nice to have a medal in the house."

BASEBALL: Alexei Bell hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put the punctuation mark on the Cubans' 10-2 rout of the United States in the semifinals.

He raised his hand to signal No. 1 while rounding the bases, then Ariel Pestano added his own three-run shot three batters later to seal it.

Alfredo Despaigne and Frederich Cepeda also connected for Cuba.

Cuba (7-1) will play tonight against unbeaten South Korea (8-0), and the U.S. (5-3) will face Japan for bronze.

MEN'S BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser completed the American sweep of the beach volleyball gold medals, beating Brazil in three sets.

A day after Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor weathered a driving rainstorm to win their second straight gold, the men won their Olympic debuts on Friday in more typical beach weather. Dalhausser and Rogers beat Fabio and Marcio 23-21, 17-21, 15-4.

MEN'S SOCCER: Jo scored two goals and Diego added a third as Brazil beat Belgium 3-0 on to win the bronze medal.

MEN'S WATER POLO: The U.S. team extended its unlikely string of victories by defeating Serbia 10-5 in the semifinals, sending the team to the gold-medal match for the first time in 20 years.

The United States was ranked ninth in the world before the Olympics, but reached the semifinals after a series of upsets. The Americans will now face Hungary, the gold-medal winners in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, in the final Sunday.

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