USA men travel
to Argentina for five friendly matches
 Colorado,
USA, July 21 – The 2005 season schedule resumes for the USA
Men’s National Volleyball Team on Friday, July 22, nearly six
weeks after the squad’s last match.
Team USA departed Wednesday for Argentina to compete in five
exhibition matches from July 22-30. The first match is scheduled
for Friday, July 22 in the city of Resistencia. The teams will
also play in the cities of Formosa (July 24), Cordoba City (July
27), San Francisco (July 28) and Gualeguaychu (July 30).
The last match for the USA Men was on June 12 against the
Netherlands in the championship match of the International
Sports Invitational in San Diego, Calif. Overall, the United
States boasts a season record of 5-3 after winning two-of-three
matches against the Netherlands during the Pacific Northwest
Tour from June 2-5 and three-out-of-five contests and finishing
in second place at the International Sports Invitational from
June 8-12.
On Sunday, July 17, the Americans returned from a two-week
training session at the American Sports Center in Anaheim, Calif.
“It’s been a good training block, but we’re ready to go compete,”
said Team USA head coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New
Zealand) of the long layoff between matches. “The thing that’s
nice about being able to play Argentina is they’re a good team,
a quality team. And they’ve been playing in the World League
this year. We get to be in South America and be in the right
time zone for the America’s Cup as well, so it’s a little bit of
win-win there for us.”
Argentina, ranked No. 7 in the world, and the United States (No.
5) met twice last season during the USA Global Challenge in
Austin, Texas, with the Americans winning both times (3-2 and
3-0). Both teams also participated at the 2004 Olympic Games in
Athens, Greece. Team USA finished fourth overall, while the
Argentineans finished tied for fifth.
Following the Argentina tour, Team USA will travel to Porto
Alegre, Brazil, to compete in the America’s Cup along with
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba and Venezuela from Aug. 2-7.
“Those are the top teams in the North and South American zones,”
said McCutcheon of the America’s Cup field. “We are excited to
play some quality competition as we get ready for what we see as
our main events of the summer: our world championship qualifier
and the NORCECA Zone Championships. This is going to be really
good preparation for us.” |
