This U.S. Team Is Depleted, Not Defeated : Volleyball: After losing its starters from the Seoul Games, the American national team appears to have a bumpy road ahead. Still, its young players remain optimistic.

Scott Fortune played only a small role when the U.S. volleyball team won its second consecutive gold medal at Seoul last year.

But since then, Fortune has assumed a new role on a team in transition. Seven of the United States’ 12 Olympic members left after Seoul, and two more say they will leave in November.

As a result, U.S. Coach Bill Neville said he will rely on Fortune, a middle blocker, and outside hitters Troy Tanner and Jon Root to guide the program through the next three years, which might be rough after the team’s enormous success. All three were substitutes in 1988.

“Guys like Fortune have to grow up quickly,” Neville said. “There’s no time for that adolescent stage for them to develop. They have to go out and do it right now.”

That may be difficult.

The team’s biggest void came last July, when outside hitter Karch Kiraly and middle blocker Steve Timmons, who led the United States to two gold medals, joined the pro beach circuit. They are regarded as two of the world’s best players.

At the time, their departure left the team with only two returning starters from 1988--setter Jeff Stork and outside hitter Bob Ctvrtlik.

But Stork and Ctvrtlik plan to leave after the World Cup in November to play professionally in Italy. Two other starters, Craig Buck and Doug Partie, joined the Italian leagues after the Olympics.

The three returning players, along with a patchwork lineup of promising collegians who are inexperienced at the international level, are trying to maintain the United States’ No. 1 ranking.

“I’m upset with a lot of those guys who have left,” said Fortune, 23. “They’re still young enough to play. They’ve left the program in a difficult situation. We’re a few years behind and we need to catch up.

“It’s a learning experience with the younger guys.” He said they looked to Stork and Ctvrtlik “to smooth things over.”

Stork, formerly a standout at Pepperdine, said winning the gold medal in Seoul satisfied his amateur goals, and he is ready to move on.

“I can’t say I made a terrible decision leaving the team,” Stork said. “I’ve been with the team for five years and I’ve helped the younger players as much as I can.

“It’s time to explore new avenues. It’s the culmination of my (amateur) career and it’s time to have fun now. It’s also a chance to make a little money.”

Stork will earn $500,000 for playing the next two years in Italy.

“The U.S. Volleyball Assn. can’t offer the players the money to stay around,” Stork said. “(It) pays for living expenses, but it’s not enough. There are a few guys on the team who are making $100 a month. There are some who don’t even own a car.”

Neville said he doesn’t blame Stork and Ctvrtlik for going to Italy. He compared the U.S. team’s situation to that of the Clippers, who recently lost Danny Ferry to the Italian basketball league.

“What it all comes down to is that the Italians can ante up and pay for the players,” Neville said. “The Italians have deep pockets--ones that reach all the way to their toes.

“It’s a tempting offer for young players--a six-figure salary to play seven months and work out two or three times a week. Then they can come back and play on the beach tour and make more money.”

With the loss of nine players from the 1988 team, Neville has searched California universities for talent. He said the U.S. team’s future rests on the newcomers such as Bryan Ivie of USC, Chris Braun of Stanford and Mark Arnold of Pepperdine.

“Losing Bob and Jeff has had a big effect on the team,” Neville said. “I would be a liar if I said it didn’t. It’s something I try not to think about.

“But the younger guys know their day in the sun is coming. It’s just coming a little sooner than expected.”

Fortune said the U.S. team is undergoing a transition similar to the one when Kiraly and Timmons joined the team eight years ago.

The United States was weak in international volleyball when Kiraly and Timmons arrived in 1981. The Americans weren’t much better in 1982, when they finished 13th at the world championships.

Success did not come until after the world championships, when the U.S. team restructured its program and brought in a new coach.

By the time the team was preparing for Seoul, it was a well-tuned machine.

“All (former coach Marv Dunphy) had to do was roll the ball out there and let us go at it,” Fortune said. “That was what practices were like then. Now the coaches spend a lot more time teaching.

“We realize we’re going to have to play a lot harder. We can’t walk over teams since Karch and Steve left.”

The team’s first major test will be at the World Cup. The United States won the last one in 1985.

“I don’t think we’re the favorites,” Stork said. “The Cubans and the Soviets look good. We might be in the top four.”

As a warmup to the World Cup, the Americans are playing the Japanese national team in an eight-city exhibition tour in the United States and Japan.

The United States is 5-2 without Kiraly and Timmons. Before the tour against Japan, the U.S. team split two games against the Soviet Union.

Neville used the tour to give the younger players experience. Stork sat out the three games in Japan so setter Javier Gaspar could play.

With new players, Neville juggles the lineup to find the best combinations.

“It’s hard to discipline myself as the coach sometimes,” he said. “When we get into the fray, my instinct is to go with the best six players. But my assistants keep reminding me that I have to get the younger guys some playing time. I’ve had to do a lot of experimenting.”

Fortune, who played at Stanford and Laguna Beach High School, said playing with the young team is challenging.

“We’re trying to prove ourselves,” he said. “Everyone is saying we can’t do it without Karch and Steve. Hey, they were great and I looked up to them when they were on the team, but now I realize they’re gone and we have to go on without them.”