MEN’S VOLLEYBALL : U.S. Sweeps CIS in First Test of Team That Mixes Old, New

Two former volleyball powers met Friday night in a matchup featuring the known and the unknown.

With a 1991 World Cup championship in its national trophy case, the talent of the former Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, was undisputed.

Not so definitive was how good the Americans were. Four former Olympians joined the team April 27, and Coach Fred Sturm has tried to mesh the old with the new.

In its first major test against the team it defeated to win its second Olympic gold medal, the United States swept the CIS, 15-10, 15-8, 15-6, before 5,389 at the San Diego Sports Arena. The teams will play again tonight at the Forum.

“For all of us, our adrenaline gets a little higher for CIS,” Bob Ctvrtlik said. “They’re so talented, so big and physical, to play them we know we have to play well.”

And that was the consensus among the Americans.

“I thought we played as well as we have since this team’s been put together,” said Steve Timmons, who is seeking his third Olympic gold medal.

Timmons was one of four Americans who had more than 10 kills. Bryan Ivie, the two-time NCAA player of the year who was the only non-Olympic starter, had a game-high 22 kills. Scott Fortune, the player of the game, had 18. Ctvrtlik had 14 kills and Timmons had 13.

Ctvrtlik qualified the victory: “These guys just traveled around the world, they’ve been here for a day and a half, and they just came out and played,” he said of the CIS.

He added, “Right now, it’s not like ’88. We don’t have a mental edge on every team in the world.”