Korea Takes Advantage of U.S. Lapses : Volleyball: Americans suffer demoralizing World League loss to previously winless Koreans.

There was nothing for the United States national volleyball team to win but everything to lose.

And in front of 2,326 Saturday in the Sports Arena, the U.S. lost it, 15-10, 15-13, 7-15, 15-13. The World League Volleyball loss to Korea was demoralizing.

It dropped the U.S. to 3-2 in World League and Korea improved to 1-4.

It would not have been the biggest victory of the season, but it certainly was the biggest loss.

“It certainly wasn’t a step forward, that’s for sure,” said Team USA’s Mark Arnold.

Coach Fred Sturm agreed.

“I asked the team before the game if we were going to be a better team after the match than we were before it,” Sturm said. “We weren’t tonight.”

And the Americans will be thinking about Game 2, when they had a 13-6 lead and let it slip away. “I thought that was the first turning point in the match,” Sturm said.

“When we lost that game, basically, we lost the match,” said Scott Fortune, who led the U.S. with 21 kills. “We beat ourselves, that’s what happened. We made errors hitting and bad passing.”

“Korea’s not going to overpower us. They exposed our weaknesses, blocking and defense.”

But the result was just the same.

Korean Coach In Lee said through an interpreter he still believed the U.S. was a better team than his own, which finished 11th in the 1988 Olympics and 14th in last year’s World Championships. That probably won’t be too comforting for the American players. The U.S. finished first and 13th, respectively.

Sturm said his team took the match as seriously as it did its sweep of Japan and its surprising split with world champion Italy.

But the loss to Korea was as surprising as the victory over the Italians.

“I didn’t think we played well tonight,” Sturm said. “What can I tell you? We took a step backward, yes.”

The loss puts the U.S. in a difficult situation.

“‘I’ll be very interested to see well we can bounce back (in a rematch against Korea tonight in Irvine),” Sturm said. “We’re in a situation where we have to take our schedule one match at a time and be prepared to play well every time we step on the court.

“We had streaks where we just couldn’t sustain the effort.”

The Americans’ collapse in Game 2 was not the only letdown.

“Turning point No. 2 came in Game 4,” Sturm said, “when we missed three point-scoring opportunities after the score was 12-12. “On a night like we were having, you can’t do that.”

The U.S. had come back from a 9-3 deficit in Game 4.

“The way we played tonight, Korea was the better team,” Sturm said.

And it would seem to endanger the U.S. chances of advancing to the World League Final Four. The top two teams from each pool advance to the championship series July 26-28 in Milan, Italy.

“I would be very surprised if the two teams that go to the Final Four have a loss to Korea,” Sturm said before the game.

So the U.S. had everything to lose.

“I would agree with that statement,” Sturm said. “That’s the reality of sports. It’s a situation and you have to deal with it.

“What counts is how well we play.”

A week ago in Irvine, the Americans scored a five-game victory over Italy that appeared to solidify the U.S. as a threat to Italian and Cuban supremacy.

Saturday’s loss also came at the end of the easier part of the U.S. schedule. The U.S. has eight road matches and only two more at home, against the first-place Soviet Union July 19 and 21 in the season finale.

Although Korea entered the match without a victory, Sturm wasn’t expecting a walkover. The Koreans could have split its matches with Japan after leading 13-10 in the fifth game, and they went four games against the first-place Soviets.

Korea upset the Americans’ plans for an early evening right away. The U.S. led 8-6 before the Koreans rallied behind the play of left-hander Jang-Suk Han and Nak-Gil Ma. Ma had six kills and Han three to close out the game, 15-10.

It looked as if Fortune would reverse the U.S. fortunes in Game 2. He dominated the action with eight kills for a 13-6 lead. But Korea scored nine unanswered points, never more than two in a single series until the end when Korea scored three in a row.

The U.S. then changed benches, changed shirts and changed its luck for Game 3, again taking a 13-6 lead before finally closing the match out, 15-7. Bryan Ivie had seven kills, Brent Hilliard and Dan Hanan five apiece.