ISLE FILE
USA volleyball men, women lose matches
Advertiser Staff
The U.S. men's and women's national volleyball teams lost FIVB World League matches yesterday.
The men got off to a hot start and then cooled considerably as they fell to Serbia & Montenegro, 25-21, 26-24, 16-25, 16-25, 15-13, before approximately 7,000 fans in Beograd, Serbia.
The loss ended any hope the U.S. men (5-6) had of winning their pool. They play Serbia & Montenegro (8-3) again today in Novi Sad to end pool play.
Reid Priddy led the U.S. with 19 points and former University of Hawai'i player Clay Stanley added 18. However, the United States could not find an answer for 6-foot-7 opposite Ivan Miljkovic, who finished with 29 points, including 27 kills.
The men's World League final is Aug. 23 to 27 in Russia.
The U.S. women fell to Italy, 25-21, 27-25, 18-25, 25-17, at Luczniczka Hall in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Italy (3-0) is ranked third in the FIVB world ranking, while Team USA (1-2) is fifth.
The U.S. travels to Macau, China, next week to face China, Brazil and Dominican Republic.
Former Rainbow Wahine Heather Bown (10 points) and Therese Crawford (9) played for Team USA, which was set by Punahou graduate Lindsey Berg.
"We were much slower today and couldn't use the advantage in the first set," Berg said. "What is more, we were totally exhausted."
The schedule has three weeks of round-robin group play of four teams at various locations. The top five teams from the preliminary rounds, together with Italy as host country, advance to the finals Sept. 6 to 10.
ANN KANG INVITATIONAL TITLE SET FOR TONIGHT
The girls varsity championship match of the 2006 Ann Kang Invitational Volleyball Tournament is scheduled for 7 tonight at Iolani School.
Los Alamitos (Calif.) is the defending champion.
Consolation matches begin at 9 a.m., and championship round matches begin at 9:45 a.m.
Teams in the championship round are: Iolani A, Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, Calif.), Los Alamitos (Calif.), Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Corona Del Mar (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Punahou.
The 20-team tournament was originally called the Iolani Invitational, but was renamed in 2003 for Ann Kang, the longtime Iolani teacher and coach who died that summer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurological disease that attacks cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscles.
