U.S. Will Go Home Without a Victory

The U.S. men’s team heads home from Sydney with a dubious honor--they failed to win a match and finished tied at 11th for their worst showing at the Olympics.

The Americans, not so unexpectedly, lost to top-ranked Italy, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-18, in their final match. The Italians were resting four starters.

Brazil completed a perfect 5-0 run through Group A of the Olympic men’s volleyball tournament by defeating Cuba in three grueling games.

Brazil will play Argentina (2-3) in the quarterfinals.

The Netherlands, the 1996 gold medalist, closed out group play by getting past Spain 25-18, 25-17, 25-26, 25-21. Spanish hitter Rafael Pascual had 27 kills.

The Dutch advance to play Yugoslavia (2-3), which eliminated South Korea 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 15-8.

Spain (1-4) was eliminated when Australia beat Egypt 25-17, 25-23, 25-22.

The victory by the Aussies (1-3) put them in the quarterfinals against Italy, marking a stunning Olympic debut for a program that started from nothing in 1993.

Russia (4-1) finished second in Group B and will play the Cubans in the quarterfinals.