USA men sweep Canada to begin World Cup

by Paul Soriano USA Volleyball Manager, Public Relations & Publications

The USA men's national volleyball team took its first step towards Athens, Greece, by running through Canada.

Clay Stanley scored a match-high 23 points as Team USA opened the first round of the men's World Cup with a 3-0 win over Canada at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday afternoon (late Saturday night in the United States).

Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii) ripped 19 kills along with a match-high three blocks and one service ace in the United States' 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 victory in the first Olympic qualifier of the quadrennial.

"The team played a balanced match highlighted by steady serve-receiving against a tough serving team," said USA head coach Doug Beal. "We are pleased to win without losing any sets since this tournament will be a close tournament."

The top three teams at the 12-team, two-week, round-robin tournament earn automatic bids to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

One day earlier, the USA women (8-3) booked their reservation to Greece by finishing third in the women's World Cup behind China (11-0) and Brazil (10-1). The American men hope to follow the same path.

"I am very pleased the way the team played today," said USA setter and team captain Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.), who guided the men to a hitting efficiency of 47 percent. "Our rhythm was good for the first match.3-0 against a good team like the Canada team is a benefit."

Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored 12 points, Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) added nine and Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) posted seven as the American men, in their first competition since defeating Canada in the NORCECA championship match on Sept. 30, improved to 16-3 on the season.

Millar had 10 kills and two blocks, Priddy had seven kills, one block and one ace and Hoff added six kills and one ace.

Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) scored six points and libero Erik Sullivan (Encinitas, Calif.) registered 21 digs in the victory.

Sebastien Ruette scored 15 points to lead Canada.

Team USA will now play defending Olympic gold medalist Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) on Monday, Nov. 17 and China on Tuesday, Nov. 18 to conclude the first round before the entire field takes Wednesday, Nov. 19, off for a travel day.

"We need to build on the way we played today and apply continuous pressure on Serbia and Montenegro," explained Beal. "They won't give us anything cheap. We will have to earn it."

In the second round (Nov. 20-21) the Americans will face Japan and Egypt, while in the third round (Nov. 23-25) the United States battles Tunisia, Korea and Venezuela. In the fourth and final round, Team USA squares off against Italy, defending world champion Brazil and France.

In other action on Sunday (all sweeps), Serbia and Montenegro defeated China, Japan beat Egypt, Italy routed Tunisia, France downed Venezuela and Brazil turned back Korea.

For more information, go to the USA Volleyball web site.