ROUNDUP : Italy Eliminates U.S. Volleyball Team

Italy ended American dreams of another international men’s volleyball title with a 15-5, 13-15, 15-12, 15-8 victory Friday night at the Goodwill Games in Seattle.

The U.S. team, winner of the 1984 and ’88 Olympic titles and the dominant country in the sport for more than five years, did not have the power or experience to match Italy.

The Italians clinched the semifinal match by jumping to a 13-1 lead in the final game with 10 consecutive points. The United States came back with seven of the next eight points before a ball was blocked and fell outside the court to end the match.

“We weren’t firing on all six tonight,” Coach Bill Neville said.

Italy meets the Soviet Union in the final today.

In the other semifinal, the Soviets scored their biggest victory of the season, upsetting defending World Cup champion Cuba, 12-15, 8-15, 15-10, 15-12 and 15-10.

The Soviet Union rallied from a two-game deficit with its blocking and consistent kills by 6-foot-7 reserve Alexander Shadchin.

But Soviet Coach Vyacheslav Platonov said the victory was almost secondary to the fact that the Soviet had finally arrived on the international scene.

“Our entry into the finals is not as important as is the win today,” he said. “I’ve been trying to convince my team that they could beat anyone, and they have been trying to prove to me they could lose to anybody. What’s important is they proved me right.”

Cuban Coach Orlando Samuels Blackwood said his team let down “psychologically” after winning the first two games.

“We could not keep the defense up and we had a letdown,” he said through an interpreter.

In diving, the men’s one-meter springboard was won by Soviet Sergei Lomonovski, the first non-Chinese gold medalist in diving. His consistent performance enabled Lomonovski to move away from the field and finish with 597.00 points.

“As the dives went on, I gained confidence and dived better,” Lomonovski said. “I was better prepared for the one-meter.”

Tan Liangde of China, who won the three-meter springboard, earned the silver. Mark Bradshaw of Columbus, Ohio, took his second bronze of these games.

Mark Lenzi of Fredericksburg, Va., had a poor 10th dive, a 1 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists, falling from second to fourth.