Loss to Croatia Leaves Men's Sitting Team 10th

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

EDMOND, Okla. (July 17, 2010) – Cool turned to cold for the U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball Team, which lost to Croatia 25-19, 26-24, 25-18 on Saturday in the ninth-place match of the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO).

The U.S. Men finish the tournament in 10th place with a 3-4 record. Croatia finishes ninth with a record of 5-2.

A day after staying calm and getting an emotional 3-2 victory over Serbia to advance to the ninth-place match, the U.S. Men looked lackluster against Croatia and struggled to put together runs of points.

“I think it was an emotional drain,” U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Head Coach Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania) said. “We were flat. We had small recharges here and there, but we never got over the hump.”

Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) paced the U.S. Men with 20 points on 18 kills (0.32 hitting percentage) and two blocks. Brent Rasmussen (Omaha, Neb.) scored 10 points on 10 kills (0.30 hitting percentage). Edgar Laforest (San Juan, Puerto Rico) added seven points on five kills (0.23 hitting percentage) and two blocks.

Roderick Green (Monroe, La.) scored four points on three kills and one ace. Dan Regan (St. Louis, Mo.) added three points on two kills and one ace. James Stuck (New Kensington, Pa.) had two points on two blocks and Brad Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.) had one point on one kill.

Libero Ed O’Neil (Amherst, Mass.) had 27 receptions with two errors; 81 percent were positive and 48 percent excellent. Duda had 16 receptions; 100 percent positive and 31 percent excellent.

Croatia out-blocked the U.S. Men’s Sitting Team 16-6. Croatia had four aces while the U.S. had two. Each team had an attack percentage of 0.31. The U.S. hitting percentage was 0.20 while Croatia’s was 0.19.

Miraku started Regan, Duda, Stuck, Laforest, Johnson, Rasmussen and O’Neil at libero. J.Dee Marinko (Newcastle, Okla.), Josh Franklin (Houston, Texas) and Green played as substitutes.

In the first set, Croatia held a 5-3 lead when the U.S. scored five straight points behind Stuck at server, including two U.S. kills and three Croatia errors, to lead 8-5 at the first technical timeout (TTO). Croatia came back with four points after the break to lead 9-8. The U.S. still led by one at 15-14 when Croatia scored three points to go ahead 17-15. Team USA got a point on Croatia’s butt lift, but Croatia came back to score seven points in a row to lead 23-16. The U.S. scored on a Croatian hitting error and Rasmussen block, but Croatia reached set point with a tip. It followed with a hitting error to give the U.S. one more point before ending the set with a kill.

The score was tied 6-6 in the second set with the U.S. scoring on a block by Stuck, two kills by Duda and one from Rasmussen along with two Croatian errors. Croatia scored six straight points to go ahead 12-6. Later, with Croatia leading 17-10, The United States scored four straight points, including a Stuck block and Green ace, to pull to within three at 17-14. Croatia’s lead was still three at 24-21 when the U.S. held off the set loss  with two straight Duda kills and a Croatian hitting error. With the score tied at 24-24, Croatia got a block followed by a U.S. hitting error to end the set.

The U.S. Men held a 6-5 lead in the third set when Croatia scored four straight points to go up 9-6. Croatia’s lead was still three at 15-12 when it got two straight points on two kills to increase the lead to 17-12. With Croatia leading 18-13, Team USA scored two straight points on two Rasmussen kills, but Croatia came back with two points on two attacks. A Johnson attack and Croatian hitting error pulled the U.S. Men to within three at 20-17, but Croatia scored four straight points on two spikes and two blocks to reach match point. Team USA scored on a Croatian net violation before Croatia ended the match with a block.

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

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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

U.S. Men Second Phase Results
Ninth-Place Match – July 17: Croatia def. USA, 25-19, 26-14, 25-18
July 16: USA def. Serbia, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 12-25, 15-12
Round of 16 – July 15: Germany def. USA, 25-13, 25-21, 25-20

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

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

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