US Men's Volleyball Triumphs in Beijing

The volleyball gold medal is the first for the United States since 1988 and the first medal since 1992, when it won bronze. The United States is the first country to win medals in all four Olympic volleyball events (men’s and women’s beach and men’s and women’s indoor). The United States won three of the four gold medals available. The women’s indoor team took a silver medal on Saturday.

“It is a very demanding atmosphere playing in the final at the Olympic Games,” said U.S. Men’s Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand). “We are very happy to win. It was a difficult match in a lot of ways. Our guys embraced that. I thought it was just two good teams battling hard through a tough match.”

Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) led the United States with 20 points on a match-high 15 kills, three blocks and two aces. He finished as the best scorer of the tournament with 146 points on 116 kills, 15 blocks and 15 aces. He was also the leading server.

Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) added 13 points on 12 kills and one block. Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) scored 12 points on eight kills and four aces. Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) totaled 11 points on eight kills and three blocks. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) scored 10 points on five kills and five blocks.

Setter Lloy Ball (Fort Wayne, Ind.) scored four points on two kills, one block and one ace. He was credited with 21 running sets, and 69 still sets on 91 attempts for a 5.25 average per set.

Libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) was credited with 10 “excellent” receptions on 25 attempts for a success ration of 40 percent. He also had 12 digs. Priddy had 12 digs on 21 attempts and 13 “excellent” receptions on 33 attempts for a success ration of 39.39 percent.

Amaral Dante led Brazil with 15 points on 13 kills and two blocks.

The U.S. Men’s Team overcame the tragic events of Aug. 9, when McCutcheon’s father-in-law, Todd Bachman, was killed and his wife Barbara was seriously injured by an assailant while site-seeing in Beijing. McCutcheon missed the team’s first three matches, but returned on Aug. 16 when Barbara’s health had improved enough that she returned to the United States.

“What a roller coaster,” Millar said. “I don’t know if it’s hit me yet. What a great match. It was something special. It’s so good to do this with Hugh and to do this for him and the Bachmans.”

On Sunday, McCutcheon started Priddy and Salmon at outside hitter, Millar and Lee at middle blocker, Stanley at opposite, Ball at setter and Lambourne at libero. Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) substituted as an extra blocker and Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) substituted as a serving specialist.

With the United States leading 2 sets to 1, the match came down to a hard-fought fourth set. Brazil led 8-6 at the first technical timeout and 16-14 at the second.

With the U.S. still trailing 18-20, Priddy got the serve on a Lee block and served for the next three points on two blocks and a kill by Stanley to give the United States a 22-20 lead. The United States reached match point at 24-22 on Millar’s kill. Brazil scored once on a kill by Murilo Endres, but Stanley put an end to the match with a kill.

“To be honest, I just think again trying to stay in the moment helped us,” Priddy said. “We’re just so proud to be a part of this team representing our country. It’s just very special. This group just really wanted to be together.”

Source: http://usavolleyball.org/national/oly82408_USMenWin.asp