U.S. Sweeps to Victory Over CIS : Volleyball: Americans’ big hitters star in 15-10, 15-8, 15-6 triumph.

Two former powers met Friday night in a World League Volleyball 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 exactly how good the undefeated 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 big test, against the team it defeated to win its second Olympic gold medal, the U.S. mix scored a resounding sweep, of the CIS, 15-10, 15-8, 15-6, in front of 5,389 at the Sports Arena.

It was just like old times--except easier. It took 91 minutes.

“For all of us, our adrenaline gets a little higher for CIS,” said Bob Ctvrtlik. “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 vying for 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 13.

Ctvrtlik added an asterisk to the victory, though: “These guys just traveled around the world, they’ve been here for a day and a half, and they just came out and played.”

But, he added, “Right now, it’s not like ’88. We don’t have a mental edge on every team in the world. We’re working our butts off to establish that. Every 3-0 win goes a little further in establishing that.”

But Sturm wasn’t ready to say his team was ready to proclaim his team superior to one of the teams that has the potential to win the Olympic gold.

“I don’t think you can draw that kind of conclusion from one match,” he said.

CIS Coach Viacheslav Platonov wasn’t using fatigue as an excuse, even though the match ended at 6 a.m. Moscow time.

“They’re being paid money to be tired,” he said through an interpreter. “I don’t want to say one team is better or worse, but one team was playing and the other was watching them play.”

Said interpreter Leo Bletnitsky: “He doesn’t want to call (his players) men, but doesn’t want to call them what he’s thinking.”

Tough critic.

Pavel Shishkin, who had a team-high 14 kills and was one of only two players looked upon kindly by Platonov. Shishkin said if the CIS (6-1) would have played like it was capable, they would have won.

“If we play as a team instead of individually, it would be different,” he said.

Platonov, who said the Barcelona Olympics will be different, noticed a difference between the team that took the floor and the one his team played a year ago.

“They’ve got more self-confidence,” he said.

Winning will do that for you. The U.S. won for the seventh time in seven games, matching its victory total from the previous two years in World League. The victory also clinched a playoff berth, which means the U.S. will be host for at least one more match in San Diego.

The two teams meet again tonight at the Forum in Inglewood.