USA men sweep Korea for fifth-straight World Cup win

by Paul Soriano USA Volleyball Manager, Public Relations & Publications

The winning ways continue for the United States at the World Cup.

Clay Stanley scored a match-high 18 points to lead the USA men's national volleyball team to a 3-0 win over Korea at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan, Monday afternoon (Sunday night in the United States).

Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii) ripped 14 kills, three service aces and one block in the 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 victory as the Americans improved to 6-1 at the first Olympic qualifier.

"We're very happy to win 3-0 today," said Team USA head coach Doug Beal. "Korea is a very strong team. We didn't know them very well partly because they were loaded with several young players. Our players concentrated and stayed focused on the match much better than usual today.

"They followed our game-plan quite well even though we didn't have enough time to prepare for the match. Since each game becomes more difficult and important as the tournament proceeds, I'm satisfied with the result of today's match."

Since losing to 2000 Olympic gold medalist Serbia and Montenegro in the second match of the World Cup on Nov. 17, the United States has won five consecutive matches to remain in the thick of the race for a ticket to Athens.

With just four matches remaining, Brazil and Serbia and Montenegro sit atop the World Cup standings with perfect 7-0 records. Italy, also at 6-1, is currently third, followed by the United States.

In case of a tie in the standings, set ratio (number of sets won divided by the number of sets lost) is the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker, if needed, is point ratio (number of points won divided by number of points lost).

Through seven matches, the Italians have won 19 sets and lost four (4.75 set ratio). Team USA has won 18 sets and lost six (3.00 set ratio).

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

Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored 12 points while Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.) and Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) added eight points apiece as the United States improved to 21-4 on the season.

As a team, the Americans held a decisive edge in blocking (11-3), thanks in part to Millar's five stuffs.

Byung-Chul Chang scored 10 points on nine kills and one ace to lead Korea, which dropped to 3-4 at the tournament.

In the final match of the third round (Nov. 25) the United States takes on Venezuela. In the fourth and final round (Nov. 28-30), Team USA squares off against Italy, defending world champion Brazil and France in Tokyo.

In other action on Sunday, Brazil defeated Canada in three sets, France defeated China (3-1), Serbia and Montenegro downed Venezuela (3-0), Tunisia upset Japan (3-2) and Italy swept Egypt.

2003 Men's World Cup Standings

Brazil (7-0) Serbia and Montenegro (7-0) Italy (6-1) USA (6-1) France (4-3) Japan (3-4) Korea (3-4) Canada (2-5) Venezuela (2-5) China (1-6) Tunisia (1-6) Egypt (0-7)

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