U.S. Scrambles To Victory Comeback Needed To Overturn Poland

The United States national men’s volleyball team ran its World League record to 7-0 Friday night, but it certainly didn’t run its opponent out of the Arena.

Instead, the Americans were forced to come from behind against Poland’s national team, winning 25-27, 25-19, 28-30, 25-22, 15-12 before a cozy but enthusiastic crowd.

“We didn’t control the ball very well,” U.S. coach Doug Beal said. “We did the difficult things well, but not the easy things. We ran a good offense, blocked well and played good defense.”

The teams will meet again tonight at 7 in another Pool C match. The 12-country World League event is regarded as the most important pre-Olympic tournament and certainly the one with the biggest purse at $10 million.

Team USA, ranked fifth in the FIVB rankings, is 3-0 against No. 19 Poland, winning two matches earlier in Poland. The Americans, meanwhile, qualified for the 2000 Sydney Games while Poland was eliminated in zone play.

“The United States did not play its best tonight,” Poland coach Ryszard Bosek said through an interpreter. “They played much better in Poland.”

The United States also had trouble putting away games when it reached game point. It lost the first and third games, despite hitting the 24-point mark first both times.

The Americans didn’t mount much momentum, never scoring more than three straight points in the rally-scoring match, where sideouts are eliminated and every rally ends in a point.

The opener couldn’t get any closer. The game was tied at 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 before the USA took a 24-23 lead. But the Poles tied it again on the Americans’ first game point when middle blocker Marcin Prus scored on a kill. After a 25-25 tie, Poland won on back-to-back kills.

After a less suspenseful second game, the teams went back and forth in Game 3. Once again, it was knotted at 25. This time, the United States squandered five game points. Poland finally took a 2-1 edge in games on its third game point when the Americans were called for a net violation to give the visitors a 30-28 win.

“We gave away a lot of easy points and we’re fortunate to win the match,” said Beal, whose team coughed up 17 points on service errors to Poland’s 14. “We need to be a better ball-control team if we’re to do well in the Olympics.”

But the Americans had enough to pull out the win, coming from behind in both the fourth and the final game, which only goes to 15 points. They were trailing as late as 16-13 in the fourth game and fell behind 6-3 in the fifth.

Starting opposite hitter George Roumain, a relative newcomer to the national team with one year of experience, put down the most kills in the final two games while reserve players Dan Landry and Kevin Barnett also stepped up down the stretch.

“The whole team felt a little flat tonight,” said Roumain, who led his team with 22 kills on 42 attempts. “I felt dehydrated and we’ve been traveling a lot. But there’s no excuse.”

The United States finished with 74 kills on 135 attempts (35 percent) while the Poles were 66 of 126 (29 percent) behind opposite hitter Pawel Papke’s 19 kills.