Olympics: Miraculous comeback vaults USA men into Olympic semifinals

by Paul Soriano USA Volleyball Manager, Media Relations & Publications

The critics may not have given the USA men's Olympic volleyball team much of a chance of success in Athens, but the team always believed in each other and felt it was capable of doing special things in Greece.

That bond was never more evident than Wednesday night at Peace and Friendship Stadium as Team USA scripted an amazing comeback performance in the tournament quarterfinals that was indeed special.

Kevin Barnett (Naperville, Ill.) scored a team-high 20 points to lead four players in double figures as the United States overcame a talented Greece team making its first appearance in the Olympic Games-along with more than 9,000 of its most vocal fans-to earn a trip to Friday's semifinals.

Barnett had 16 kills and four blocks in the 25-22, 22-25, 25-27, 25-23, 17-15 victory that will go down as one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic volleyball history.

The Americans, trailing two sets to one, overcame a 20-12 deficit in the fourth set to tie the match and a 12-9 deficit and one match point in the fifth set to secure the win and book a semifinal date with top-ranked Brazil.

"I thought we could do some special things here before we ever came here," stated Barnett. "I read in all the papers how everybody had written us off; everybody on the internet had written us off. Heck, the telecasters didn't even know the right guys' names. They were talking about bringing other people here.

"We knew we had a good team," he added. "We knew we had a team that could stick together through anything. We can score points; we can do a lot of things well in this game. And we play as a team. That's probably the best part. And that's what won us the match tonight-playing as a team."

Perhaps inspired by losing middle blocker Theodoros Chatziantoniou to an ankle injury near the end of the third set, the Greeks came out on fire to begin the fourth set.

They used two blocks, one kills and two aces to roar to a 5-0 lead and force Team USA head coach Doug Beal into making two crucial substitutions: backup setter Donald Suxho (Korce, Albania) entered the match for Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) and backup opposite Brook Billings (Santa Barbara, Calif.) came in for Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii).

The new faces had no serious effect at first as Greece eventually built the lead to 6-0, then 8-1, then 16-8 and 20-12. Reserve outside hitter Riley Salmon entered the match in place of Barnett, and shortly thereafter things started to click for the United States.

A Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) kill was followed by a Greek hitting error, a Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) and Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) block and another Greek hitting error. 20-16.

After a Greek timeout, Team USA lit up a couple of more bulbs in the scoreboard on another block by Hoff and another hitting error by Greece. 20-18. The Greeks got a kill from Antonios Tsakiropoulos to post a three-point edge until the Americans mounted one more unlikely comeback.

Kills from Priddy and Stanley and a block from Priddy and Hoff tied the match at 21-all. An ace from Suxho gave the United States its first lead of the set (22-21), and it closed out the improbable comeback with a kill from Hoff and two kills from Barnett. 25-23.

"In this sport (a comeback like that)... it's pretty unheard of," said Ball. "When you get down eight or nine points most of the time you're dead in the water. But I thought the guys came off the bench with enthusiasm. I think Greece thought they had it in the bag. And they kind of let down and started making some silly errors. A combination of us stepping up and them coming down made for a hell of a match.

"I don't think there is a better example of how important 12 players are than tonight," added Ball, a three-time Olympian. "We came out real flat in the fourth set. We made a couple of subs; our other setter Donald Suxho came in, Brook Billings came in and just one through 12 we're a real solid team. And I think tonight, if nothing else, we see that USA Volleyball is back with the kind of effort they used to have in the '80s. Never say die."

With Ball on the bench the teams traded points in the fifth and deciding set until Greece "pulled away" to a 12-9 advantage on a service error by Priddy and a hitting error by Stanley. A kill by Barnett closed the gap to 12-10, and Ball entered the match to serve for Hoff. Another Barnett kill made the score 12-11 and Greece was forced to take a timeout.

"After we won the fourth set I went directly to Doug and said they should stay with the same team," said Ball. "They fought... Donald should be in there.He did a great job. I just told (Doug) I would be ready if they needed someone to serve."

He wasn't lying. Ball evened the score on an ace out of the timeout, and the teams traded points until Greece earned its first match point on a kill by Konstantinos Christofidelis (14-13). The Greeks lost the advantage on a service error by Antrej Kravarik (who led all scorers with 26 points), and they could only watch as a gutsy dump by Suxho near the back line put the USA up by one, 15-14.

Sotirios Pantaleon responded with a kill to tie the score at 15-all, but Greece would never score again. A Millar kill gave the Americans their second match point, and Pantaleon hit the ball long on the next play to close out the two hour and 28 minute match in favor of the United States.

Priddy finished the match with 16 points on 13 kills and three blocks, Stanley tallied 15 points on 10 kills and a match-high five aces and Millar posted 14 points on 12 kills and two blocks.

And now this American team, written off by some before the Olympic Games even began, has a chance to bring home its first medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games.

"It's a dream come true," said Priddy of playing for a shot at a medal. "We like our matchup. We're going to fight as hard as we can.that's all we can do is fight as hard as we can."

"Our team has two characteristics that I like very much," said Beal. "One is that we have 12 players who can play. You certainly saw some of those guys come off the bench and help us in pretty dramatic fashion, in the fourth set particularly.

"And we have a team that fights very hard. It plays with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion. I like those characteristics because sometimes it allows us to play at a higher level than our skill allows us. Maybe today was one of those days."

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