Men's Sitting Team Keeps Cool, Gets Win

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

EDMOND, Okla. (July 16, 2010) – Despite Oklahoma’s scorching summer temperatures, the U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball kept its cool and got the3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 12-25, 15-12) victory over Serbia on Friday at the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO).

The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team improves to 3-3 and will play for ninth place against Croatia at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday on Court 2 in Hamilton Field House at UCO. Live video streaming of all matches is available at the 2010 World Championships web site.

The U.S. Women (6-0) will play Netherlands on Court 1 at 6 p.m. (this is a change from the time originally announced) on Saturday at Hamilton in the semifinals.

In a match that had its ups and downs, including a yellow card given to Serbia and the expulsion of a Serbian player, the United States found that the best thing was not to get carried away by emotion.

“We’ve tried being an emotional team and it doesn’t work for us,” said Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). “Sitting volleyball is such a finesse sport that it doesn’t help us to be over aggressive.”

Duda was the United States’ high scorer with 19 points on 17 kills and two blocks. James Stuck (New Kensington, Pa.) added 13 points on nine kills, three blocks and one ace. Edgar Laforest (San Juan, Puerto Rico) totaled 12 points on eight kills, two blocks and two aces and Brent Rasmussen contributed 12 points on 11 kills and one block. Roderick Green (Monroe, La.) finished with four points.

Serbia had nine aces to the United States’ eight and had 53 kills to the U.S. Men’s 48. Team USA out-blocked Serbia 15-11. Each team had a kill percentage of 0.37.

U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Head Coach Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania) started Dan Regan (St. Louis, Mo.) , Duda, Stuck, Laforest, Green, Rasmussen and Ed O’Neil (Amherst, Mass.) at libero. Brad Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.)  and J. Dee Marinko (Newcastle, Okla.) played as substitutes.

The U.S. Men were leading in sets 2-1 when things went downhill in the fourth set. Team USA fell behind 11-3 and never put together any sort of comeback.

“We definitely let our guard down in the fourth set,” U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Head Coach Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania) said. “In the third set we were the most focused of any set in the whole tournament and that’s why we won. We totally lost that in the fourth set.”

Serbia jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the tie-breaking fifth set, with the U.S. scoring on Duda’s block of the serve and a Serbian error.  With Serbia leading 6-3, Team USA scored on attacks from Stuck and Laforest to pull to within one. But Serbia came back with two kills of its own and led 8-5 at the side change. Miraku called a timeout right after the changeover and the U.S. took the serve for Laforest on Rasmussen’s spike off the block. Duda followed with a kill and Serbia called timeout. But the Europeans came back and were called for a butt lift. A Serbian passing error tied the score at 8-8 and Rasmussen’s kill put Team USA ahead 10-8. Serbia had two straight hitting errors to make it 12-8. Serbian tempers flared and a Serbian bench player was expelled from the match, but the European team responded by scoring a point, but then served into the net. With the U.S. leading 13-9, Serbia scored twice on a U.S. hitting error and double contact. Stuck ended the run with a kill to reach match point. Serbia had one more successful attack before Duda ended the match with the deciding kill.

For more information, visit the 2010 Sitting World Championship web site.

Visit 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championship Photo Galleries.

2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships
July 11-18 in Edmond, Okla.

U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball Team
Number Name (Hometown/Resident athletes at the University of Central Oklahoma are noted)
2 Dan Regan (St. Louis, Mo./Edmond, Okla.)
3 Charlie Swearingen (Gulfport, Miss./Edmond, Okla.)
4 Ed O'Neil (Amherst, Mass./Edmond, Okla.)
5 Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Edmond, Okla.)
7 Brad Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.)
8 James Stuck (New Kensington, Pa./Edmond, Okla.)
10 Edgardo Laforest (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
11 Roderick Green (West Monroe, La./Edmond, Okla.)
12 Brent Rasmussen (Omaha, Neb.)
13 Josh Franklin (Houston, Texas)
18 J. Dee Marinko (Newcastle, Okla.)

Head Coach: Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania)
Assistant Coach: Dixie Collins (Marshall, Va.)
Team Leader:  Kimo Aweau
Athletic Trainer: Kazuma Akehi

Men’s Group A Final Pool Standings
Bosnia 4-0
China 3-1
USA 2-2
Canada 1-3
Libya 0-4

U.S. Men’s Pool Play Results

July 11: China def. USA, 25-10, 25-23, 25-17
July 12: Bosnia Herzegovina def. USA, 25-15, 25-15, 25-10
July 13: USA def. Libya, 25-19, 25-14, 25-21
July 14: USA def. Canada, 25-15, 25-19, 25-15

Round of 16 – July 15: Germany def. USA, 25-13, 25-21, 25-20
July 16: USA def. Serbia, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 12-25, 15-12

Tags: Brad Johnson, Brent Rasmussen, Charlie Swearingen, Dan Regan, Ed O'Neil, Edgar Miraku, Edgardo Laforest, Eric Duda, J. Dee Marinko, James Stuck, Josh Franklin, Roderick Green, Sitting Volleyball, Sitting Volleyball World Championships, U.S. Men's Sitting Volleyball Team