USA Squad in Global Cup Winners' Bracket Finals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 14, 2010) - Team USA - RBC Life advanced to the winners bracket finals of the Global Cup Volleyball Championships being played as part of the Huntsman Games in St. George, Utah.

However, Team USA needed to rebound from an early morning loss Thursday to beat Estonia in the losers bracket final 25-18, 25-14 to set up a re-match with Russia for the gold medal on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.

On Oct. 13 Team USA defeated defending champion Canada 25-16, 29-27 in the final round of the round robin play. In the first round of the playoffs USA was pitted against seventh-seed Latvia. The American team came in ready to play and shut out the Latvian team 25-16, 25-24.

The 2010 Global Cup Volleyball Championship gold and bronze medal matches on Oct. 14 will be shown live by clicking here. The bronze-medal match will start at 5 p.m. MDT with the gold-medal match to follow at 7 p.m.

In the second round the USA played a strong Estonian team that was coming off a strong three-set win over Brazil with scores of 25-22, 22-25, 17-15. Again the U.S. team started strong and took the first set 25-19. Game two saw a very close fight with Estonia finally taking the set 27-25. In the deciding third set the teams were tied at 8-8 after the crossover, but the U.S. made a couple of key digs and pulled away to take the deciding set 15-11.

On the second day of competition (Oct. 12), Team USA-RBC Life finished with a 1-1 record after losing the day's first match to undefeated Russia 25-19, 25-17, but recovering to defeat Latvia 21-25, 25-18, 15-11 in the later match.

Team USA opened the 2010 Global Cup International Tournament on Oct. 11 with a 3-0 match record after defeating Estonia (24-26, 25-22, 15-9), Brazil (18-25, 25-8, 15-12) and Venezuela (25-18, 25-22). The seven-team event is being hosted as part of the Huntsman Games, an international senior event that includes over 10,000 participants competing in 26 sports. Teams competing in this year's volleyball tournament include Russia, Brazil, Canada, Latvia, Estonia, Venezuela and Team USA.

The Global Cup Volleyball Championships are being held at the Dixie Convention Center in St. George, Utah.

For more information on the tournament and seeding log-on to www.seniorgames.net.

Team USA - RBC Life
Brett Ammerman (Parker, Colo.)
Mike Bonnell (Tucson, Ariz.)
Marc Haine Honolulu, Hawaii)
Dale Hoffman (San Diego, Calif.)
Jerry Kukuruda (Wichita, Kan.)
Ken Link (Elk Grove, Calif.)
Jerry Pohr (York, Pa.)
Greg Runcie (Orange County, Calif.)
Dave Strege (Des Moines, Iowa)
Mike Vestch (Nelson, Wis.)
Rod Wilde (Madison, Wis.)
Steve Zelco (Santa Barbara, Calif.)

Rod Wilde contributed to this report

Tags: Adult, Rod Wilde