U.S. Rally Falls Short; Soviets Win in 5 Games

Take a look at the highlight film from Friday night’s five-game World League Volleyball match, and you’ll swear it was directed by David Lynch.

You know, bizarre.

The United States came back from a two-game deficit to force a fifth game before the Soviets scored a 15-13, 15-10, 2-15, 9-15, 15-13 victory in front of a season-high 5,291 at the Sports Arena.

The Americans (5-10) overcame what they considered questionable officiating, a flurry of yellow cards and a season of frustration to win at least a moral victory against Pool B’s second-place team, one that Soviet Coach Viacheslav Platonov said would represent the Russians at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. After this weekend, the Soviets (11-4) are headed to Milan, Italy, for the World League championship.

After the Soviets took a two-game lead and looked as if they would repeat the sweep of their initial match in Moscow five weeks ago--they followed that with a four-game victory--the Americans battled back.

The U.S. forced a fifth game after Mark Arnold came off the bench to spark the team to two impressive victories to tie the match at two games apiece. The Soviets held on in rally scoring in Game 5.

“He gave us a boost and certainly sparked the team,” U.S. Coach Fred Sturm said.

Arnold didn’t start because he’s had a knee injury and will undergo arthoscopic surgery on Monday.

Sturm said the team, to be competitive in its effort to defend its back-to-back gold medal victories in the Olympics, will have to play five games like it did Games 3 and 4.

“We played parts of games pretty well,” Sturm said. “We need to be more consistent.”

Team captain Scott Fortune said head referee Juan Pereyra of Argentina tried to control every aspect of the game, including when the Americans would enter prior to the match. Fortune told Pereyra that the Americans would enter second, like they have all year.

“From the beginning he had a bad attitude,” Fortune said.

The match might have turned out differently had the other official, Korea’s Jong-Taik Ahn, not overruled a linesman’s call that drew the ire of American players. A triple-block by Bryan Ivie, Fortune and Bob Samuelson apparently tied the game at 5-5, but Pereyra took the point off the board and gave the serve to the Soviets, who reeled off three consecutive points to take an 8-4 lead.

The difference in the game was only five points.

“We weren’t very smooth in the first two games,” Fortune said. “It’s a shame when the referee does that.”

“As we get more mature,” Sturm said, “we’ll be able to block out the bad calls. The worse thing about a bad call is the carry-over.”

It wasn’t the only time a linesman was overruled in the match. Additionally, the Americans were called for three yellow cards in the second game, six on the night.

Sturm said before the game that the Americans needed good games from Samuelson (12 kills in two games), Fortune (24) and Ivie (30 kills, seven blocks).

Uvaldo Acosta added 21 kills.

“When they play well,” Sturm said, “we always do well.”

That was the case in the first game, but three service errors with the Soviets at 14 points squandered the Americans’ opportunity. The U.S. rallied from a 9-6 deficit to tie, 11-11, before the Soviets pushed the lead to 14-11. The Americans committed six service errors in the first game.

Then came Game 2’s frustrating loss before the rally began.

The U.S. needed only 15 minutes to take a 15-2 victory. Arnold had a hand in four points--including three blocks--during a nine-point run that included Dan Greenbaum’s ace and a point given the Americans because of a red card on the Soviet bench for delay.

The Americans played their best during that stretch.

“They were as good as we were bad,” said Platonov.

“We need to play well and show we can play consistently well against the top teams,” Sturm said.

Before the match, Sturm had said, “Against the Soviets, we just have to find ways to sideout and make the most of our opportunities and slow down their hitters.”

That didn’t happen early. But it happened. And at least it gave the Russians something to think about.

Volleyball Notes

Dan Greenbaum got his second consecutive start in place of Javier Gaspar. In his debut, last week against Korea, Greenbaum had a team-high 28 digs and the team broke its seven-match losing streak.

In last season’s World League play, the U.S. won only one match.