USA Volleyball Blogs

2011 World League - The Rivalry Continues

Sun Jun 12 17:12:00 -0400 2011

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (June 12, 2011) – There is no greater rivalry in the world of volleyball than USA vs. Brazil. The rivalry has existed since the early 1980s and was epitomized at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the U.S. and Brazil faced off in 3 of 4 gold-medal matches. Both… Read More

2011 World League - Back in the Day

Sat Jun 11 17:02:00 -0400 2011

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (June 11, 2011) – It’s not often you really feel like Brazil was ripe for the picking.  We all feel that they were today, but USA wasn’t able to maintain the level that got us the 25-19 win in set 1. Alan feels that the change in the match after set 1… Read More

2011 World League - Past, Present and Future

Fri Jun 10 19:47:00 -0400 2011

BELO HORIZANTE, Brazil (June 10, 2011) - The last time the U.S. Men’s National Team played World League matches against Brazil in Belo Horizonte was in 2001. Clay Stanley, Reid Priddy, Rich Lambourne and Donald Suxho were very young with long careers ahead of them. Ryan Millar had only… Read More

2011 World League - Back in Old San Juan

Sun Jun 05 02:01:00 -0400 2011

San Juan, Puerto Rico Wednesday, June 01, 2011 We flew straight from Poland to San Juan instead of going home for a day or two then getting on a plane again. Good decision by Alan Knipe because it’s much easier on the guys to travel less.  Monday they did some light exercise and had the… Read More

2011 World League - An Exciting Comeback

Sat May 28 18:55:00 -0400 2011

Last night at the press conference after the first match the Polish captain, Michal Bakiewicz, said “We know that tomorrow we will have a totally different game.” How right he was. After last night’s loss, USA flipped the script tonight to control the match and prevail 3-0. … Read More

2010 World League: Second Finland Win Feels Good

Sat Jun 12 17:23:00 -0400 2010

June 12, 2010 in Tampere, Finland Another big win tonight in Tampere, Finland for USA. Finland is very good and they are missing arguably their best player in Mikko Esko, their regular setter. The match looked like it was headed to the 5th set but USA came up with some clutch plays to tie it up. … Read More

2010 World League: KISS and Tell

Fri Jun 11 11:36:00 -0400 2010

June 10, 2010Finland hosts many summer festivals--it's an ideal place for that with the long summer days.  It just so happens that within walking distance of our hotel we have "Metal Fest 2010"!! That's right, heavy metal, a favorite among the Finns, is in our backyard.  KISS is the… Read More

2010 World League - From Russia to Finland

Mon Jun 07 12:59:00 -0400 2010

June 7, 2010 We are on the bus from the airport in Helsinki to Tampere, site of our two matches vs. Finland. We had an early flight from Ekaterinburg and left the hotel at 5am. It was daylight already and the sun didn’t set until after 11 p.m. the night before. Our flight to Russia from LA… Read More

'10 World League - Ekaterinburg, Match 2

Sat Jun 05 14:57:00 -0400 2010

2010 World LeagueEkterinburg, RussiaJune 5, 2010 USA 1, Russia 3 A much better showing by USA ended in the same result. USA tweaked the line up with Matt Anderson playing opposite. Paul Lotman came off the bench to provide solid play at OH. Riley Salmon was great for USA for most of the match. The… Read More

'10 World League - Ekaterinburg, Match 1

Fri Jun 04 17:59:00 -0400 2010

2010 World LeagueEkterinburg, RussiaJune 4, 2010 USA 0, Russia 3 This was one of the most lopsided losses for the USA men's national team in any significant match in recent memory. Russia soundly beat the USA and dominated from the service line and at the net. The only time USA had any… Read More

'09 World League - Catania II

Mon Jun 22 11:02:00 -0400 2009

USA v. Italia in Catania CATANIA, Italy (June 21, 2009) - A packed house-standing room only-in Catania for the second match of this weekend's pair in Italy. The crowd is fantastic. They were all in here an hour before singing and dancing and fired up for the match. USA started by playing their… Read More

'09 World League: Catania

Mon Jun 22 10:45:00 -0400 2009

CATANIA, Italy (June 21, 2009) - We are ready for our match this evening in Catania. Southern Italy is so different culturally from Northern Italy. Of course, they are both wonderful. Northern Italy is a little more like the countries in Europe just north of Italy, and Southern Italy has much more… Read More

'09 World League: Florence Part II

Fri Jun 19 18:01:00 -0400 2009

USA v. Italy, June 19, 2009 FLORENCE, Italy - We are in the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy for the first of two World League matches. It's hot, and there is no A/C in Mr. Mandela's house, but I have always thought that conditions like this are synonymous with international volleyball. I… Read More

'09 World League: Florence

Fri Jun 19 17:52:00 -0400 2009

USA in Florence, Italy We arrived in Florence Tuesday evening from Holland. Yesterday morning the team had a good practice at the site of Friday's match, Nelson Mandela Forum. The only hiccup thus far in the trip is that Alfee Reft suffered a minor ankle sprain yesterday in practice. He was going… Read More

Rob Browning at '09 World League - June 14, 2009

Sun Jun 14 17:31:00 -0400 2009

ROTTERDAME, Netherlands (June 14, 2009) - A fun match today—not just because we won, but because it was a good match for the crowd. Yesterday the Dutch controlled the match from  beginning to end. Today, we can’t say that USA controlled throughout, but we certainly dominated the… Read More

Rob Browning with the U.S. Men at th …

Sat Jun 13 18:59:00 -0400 2009

2009 World League ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (June 13, 2009) – The Olympic gold medal on USA's chest was used as a target tonight in Rotterdam and the Netherlands played with intensity and purpose to control the match from beginning to end in defeating USA three sets to none. Although USA kept… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 24

Sat Aug 23 23:30:42 -0400 2008

BEIJING (Aug. 24, 2008) – This missive might be somewhat rambling because it is late (or early, however you want to look at it) and there’s a lot to write.Our women’s team played a good match against a very good Brazilian team and came up short. USA was the only team to even take a… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 21

Thu Aug 21 22:08:11 -0400 2008

BEIJING (Aug. 21, 2008) – I will need someone to do the research, but I think it is safe to say the USA Volleyball has been the most successful volleyball federation in the world since 1984 when it comes to Olympic medals. It might be close with Brazil.With Misty and Kerri's gold medal… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 15

Tue Aug 19 00:23:02 -0400 2008

*USA** 3 Bulgaria 1*BEIJING (Aug. 15, 2008) - Yesterday was another step in the journey that started nearly four years ago for this team. Bulgaria is a big, physical team who have earned the right to be ranked 4^th in the world. They aren't exactly at their best right now and their team dynamic… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 12

Sat Aug 16 21:52:25 -0400 2008

*Barbara Bachman*BEIJING (Aug. 12, 2008) – Another day with a good report on Barb's progress. She continues to improve and there's nothing that could make us happier than that.*USA** 3 Italy 1*In 2000 we lost to Italy in the last match of our group. At 0-4 we had already been… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 11

Sat Aug 16 21:45:36 -0400 2008

BEIJING (Aug. 11) – Yesterday it rained almost all day here in Beijing. The weather matched the mood of our team and the other USA Volleyball teams here, as well as the entire USA delegation.During Opening Ceremonies I marched around the track with Hugh and Marv Dunphy. We were soaking it in,… Read More

Rob Browning at the 2008 Olympic Games - Aug. 9

Sat Aug 16 21:30:58 -0400 2008

BEIJING (Aug. 9, 2008) – Last night were Opening Ceremonies and I was fortunate to be able to proudly march in with team USA. It was an eventful and exciting evening...Team USA walked to the transportation mall at 5:30pm all gussied up in our Ralph Lauren outfits. I personally thought the… Read More

Rob Browning with the U.S. Men at World League

Sun Jul 06 16:58:13 -0400 2008

2008 World LeagueMadrid, SpainJuly 6, 2008Impressive start (and finish) for USA today. A remarkable trait of this team, which is a testament to the gym culture they have established, and of USA teams historically going back at least to the gold-medal teams of the 80’s, is the habit of showing… Read More

Rob Browning with the U.S. Men at World League

Sun Jul 06 02:46:53 -0400 2008

Our hotel in Spain is adequate, but quite dated. It is located next to a big train and metro station.  It's kind of an eclectic area with miniature golf and skating rink besides all the typical stores and eateries you would find at a major train station. One other special feature is a… Read More