USA Men open
season against Netherlands
Colarado, USA, June 1, 2005 - The 2005 season begins Thursday
night for the USA men’s national Volleyball team when they host
the Netherlands in the first of three matches in Washington.
The matches will be Team USA's first international competition
of the 2005 season and the first under new head coach Hugh
McCutcheon, who hails from New Zealand. McCutcheon was named
head coach on Feb. 3.
The USA Men will be led by three members of its 2004 Olympic
Team: middle blocker Phil Eatherton, outside hitter Riley Salmon
and setter Donald Suxho.
"It's great that we get such a quality opponent to start the
season," said McCutcheon. "We are very happy that Holland is
able to come and play us. At that stage we are going to have
some younger guys on the roster, so it's just wonderful that we
get to play such a quality team this early in our season. It's
going to be a good experience. For the team and for the program
it's a great way to begin."
The series continues on Friday in Idaho followed by the third
match on Sunday in Oregan.
"The opportunity to play these matches here in the United States
is wonderful," McCutcheon added. "We would like to play a lot
more events here in the U.S., obviously. The people that are
going to come out and see these matches are going to see some
quality Volleyball and a couple of international powerhouses
going at it. It should be good."
Last year, Team USA posted a record of 20-9 and finished fourth
at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The men, ranked No.
5 in the world to start the 2005 season, showed glimpses of its
potential to return to the upper echelon of the Volleyball world
last season, posting wins over three of the top four teams in
the world (No. 1 Brazil, No. 3 Serbia and Montenegro and No. 4
Russia—twice).
The United States won Olympic gold medals in 1984 in Los Angeles
and 1988 in Seoul and earned the bronze medal in 1992 in
Barcelona.
The Dutch, who finished tied for ninth at the Athens Olympics,
begin the year ranked No. 11 in the world. The Netherlands
captured the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta
after earning a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics.
These two teams met last summer in Athens as the Americans
overcame deficits of 17-12 and 23-19 in the first set and posted
a stunning 26-24, 25-20, 25-18 victory to end a nine-match
Olympic losing streak. The win helped propel Team USA to the No.
3 spot in the pool and all the way to the bronze medal match,
where they lost to Russia.
For the Dutch, who defeated 2000 Olympic silver medalist (and
eventual 2004 bronze medalist) Russia in five sets in the first
match of pool play, the loss proved to be a key reason they did
not advance to the medal round. The Netherlands then lost to
Brazil and Italy before beating Australia in the final
preliminary match and finished fifth in Pool A with a record of
2-3 behind Brazil (4-1), Italy (3-2), USA (3-2) and Russia
(3-2).
2005 USA Men’s National Volleyball Team Roster
David Lee, Kyle Robinson, Jim Polster, Chris Tamas, Rich
Lambourne, Phil Eatherton, Donald Suxho, Matt Denmark, Chris
Seiffert, Riley Salmon, Pieter Olree, Curt Toppel, Dave
McKienzie, Delano Thomas. |
