Olympics: USA men beat Brazil, earn quarterfinal match against Greece

by Paul Soriano USA Volleyball Manager, Media Relations & Publications

The USA men's Olympic volleyball team sewed up third place in its pool with a 3-1 win over previously unbeaten Brazil Monday night at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens, Greece.

Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) scored a team-high 10 points while Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) and Brook Billings (Santa Barbara, Calif.) posted nine points apiece in the 25-22, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22 victory for Team USA (3-2).

Up next for the Americans is a quarterfinal match against the No. 2 team from Pool A, Greece, on Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 7:30 p.m. (Athens time).

Brazil (4-1), which will play Poland in the quarterfinals, still claimed the top spot in Pool B despite a lackluster performance that had people talking after the match.

While starting players on both sides were either given the night off or saw very limited action, Brazil at times appeared to be just going through the motions. The Brazilians had 24 service errors, including 10 in the final set.

"You play whoever you want to play, and I have no problem with not playing your No. 1 team or your starters," said Team USA head coach Doug Beal. "We certainly did not do that tonight. It was important for us to get some other players in. We had already made the playoffs. Brazil had obviously already clinched their playoff position.

"But you play to win the match-always," he stated. "I am very disappointed; it was apparent to me that Brazil did not play to win the match.I am just very disappointed for our sport. I think it's a bad precedent."

Team USA setter Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.), who did not play in the match, was even more direct.

"I think the way Brazil played was embarrassing," he said matter-of-factly. "It's everything against the Olympic spirit. I hope they lose the rest of their matches."

If Brazil, the No.1 team in the world and clearly the gold medal favorite coming into Athens, had won the match, Russia would have finished third in Pool B while the United States would have finished fourth.

The roles reversed when Team USA won the match, and Russia will now play Serbia and Montenegro in the quarterfinals in a rematch of the 2000 Olympic gold medal match won by Serbia and Montenegro (formerly known as Yugoslavia).

In the other quarterfinal matchup scheduled for Wednesday, Argentina will play Italy.

Priddy had eight kills and two blocks while playing just the first three sets. Billings, playing in place of starting opposite Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii), had nine kills, while Millar blasted seven kills along with two blocks.

Outside hitter Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) started in place of Kevin Barnett (Naperville, Ill.) and scored seven points on six kills and one block.

"I think our guys played real well," said Ball, a three-time Olympian. "I thought they were real focused, and a lot of guys who have not had a chance to play got a good opportunity tonight."

"That's invaluable for us because those guys are going to help us," added libero Erik Sullivan (Encinitas, Calif.), who had nine digs. "They've helped us already, and they're going to help us more as the tournament goes on. It's good to get them a little more experience, get them some game situation stuff. Hopefully, it will prove positive for us in the future.

"We have to focus on Greece now.it's going to be difficult to play them at home," admitted Sullivan. "But if would be nice to get that win and go on into the semis."

If the Americans beat the Greeks and Brazil defeats Poland in the quarterfinals, then the two teams will meet again in the semifinals on Friday, Aug. 27.

For more information and complete rankings, go to the USA Volleyball web site or the FIVB web site.