Dinamo Moscow Downs Team PMI at Club Worlds

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

Unofficial DataVolley Statistics * Official Match Statistics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 17, 2010) – Team PMI struggled with tough serving and blocking from Russia’s Dinamo Moscow and fell, 25-16, 25-14, 25-23, on Friday at the FIVB Club World Championships in Doha Qatar.

Team PMI, a U.S. club team representing the NORCECA zone at the Championships that trained at the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, Calif., before leaving for Qatar, falls to 0-2 in pool play while Dinamo Moscow improves to 1-1. The top two teams in the pool will advance to the semifinals on Dec. 20.

Team PMI will play its final pool play match at 6 a.m. PT on Sunday against Italy’s Trentino.

Dinamo Moscow dominated Friday’s match, out-hitting PMI 40-30, out-blocking it 10-2 and notching nine aces to PMI’s three. Moscow’s team hitting percentage was 0.45 while PMI’s was 0.19.

After struggling in the first two sets, PMI kept the third set close, trailing 16-12 at the second technical timeout, and then rallying from a 22-18 deficit to 22-21 and later 24-23. But Moscow put the match away with a kill from scoring- and hitting-leader Peter Veres.

“Of course, two defeats in a row do not help us, but we are very much looking forward to playing Trentino on Sunday,” Team PMI Head Coach Gary Sato (Los Angeles, Calif.) said in an FIVB release. “We were the underdogs in this game, but I am happy that we played pretty well and we executed our tactics according to the plans.”

Outside hitter Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) led PMI with nine points on nine kills. Opposite Eric Vance (Camarillo, Calif.) added seven points on seven kills.

Moscow’s Veres, a Hungarian national, and Pavel Kruglov led all scorers with 13 points each, including a match-high 10 kills from Veres.

Among other U.S. scorers, middle blocker Duncan Budinger (Encinitas, Calif.) scored five points on three kills and two aces. Middle blocker Matt Rawson (Los Angeles, Calif.) added five points on four kills and one ace. Outside hitter Nils Nielsen (Fallbrook, Calif.) came off the bench to score four points on four kills.

Outside hitter Damien Scott (Santa Ana, Calif.) totaled two points on one kills and one block. Middle blocker Matt Prosser (Ventura, Calif.) scored one point with a block. Setter Tyler
Hildebrand (Mesa, Ariz.) and opposite Dean Bittner (Lakewood, Calif.) each scored one point on a kill.

Team PMI had 32 “excellent” receptions and nine faults on 62 attempts for an average of 37.1. Moscow had 27 excellent receptions and three errors on 43 attempts for an average of 55.8. Moscow also led in digs, 27-19.

Nielsen led PMI in excellent receptions with nine and two faults on 19 attempts. Libero Paul Muñoz (Huntington Beach, Calif.) added eight excellent receptions and three faults on 14 attempts while Scott had eight excellent receptions and one fault on 12 attempts.

Muñoz led the team in digs with five and one fault on six attempts. Vance had four digs and one fault on six attempts.

Starting setter Hildebrand was credited with 15 running sets and no faults on 38 attempts. Chris Seiffert (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), who started the third set, was credited with seven running sets and no faults on 25 attempts.

Sato started Patterson and Scott at outside hitter, Budinger and Rawson at middle blocker, Vance at opposite, Hildebrand at setter and Muñoz at libero.

Seiffert started the third set at setter and Nielsen started the third set at outside hitter for Scott.

Bittner, Prosser and opposite John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) played as substitutes.

The City of Anaheim is the Official Host City for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Volleyball teams. The Men’s Team relocated to Anaheim from Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2006, and the Women’s Team followed in 2009, with both teams citing the advantages of training in Southern California, unequivocally the volleyball capitol of the country. The Men’s Team won the gold medal, and the Women’s team the silver medal, at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Anaheim serves as the training headquarters for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, and in partnership with USA Volleyball, will further promote the City throughout the volleyball and Olympic sport communities.  USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body for the sport of volleyball in the United States, and is recognized as such by the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Both the Men’s and Women’s Teams will train in Anaheim through the 2016 Olympic Games. For more information on the City of Anaheim, please visit www.anaheim.net.

For more information on the FIVB Men’s Club World Championship, click here.

Team PMI

No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 Eric Vance (OH, 6-4, Camarillo, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
2 Chris Seiffert (S, 6-6, Laguna Niguel, Calif., Long Beach State)
3 John Mayer (Opp, 6-7, Thousand Oaks, Calif., Pepperdine)
5 Matt Prosser (MB, 6-7, Ventura, Calif., Long Beach State)
6 Nils Nielsen (OH, 6-4, Fallbrook, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
7 Tyler Hildebrand (S, 6-4, Mesa, Ariz., Long Beach State)
8 Matt Rawson (MB, 6-7, Los Angeles, Calif., Hawaii)
9 Duncan Budinger (MB, 6-8, Encinitas, Calif., Long Beach State)
10 Casey Patterson (OH, 6-7, Van Nuys, Calif., BYU)
11 Dean Bittner (Opp, 6-7, Lakewood, Calif., Long Beach State)
13 Paul Muñoz (L, 6-1, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
18 Damien Scott (OH, 6-5, Santa Ana, Calif., UCLA)

Head Coach: Gary Sato (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Team Manager: Alan Segal (Savannah, Ga.)
Assistant Coach: Chris Jackson (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Therapist/Trainer: Erin Wahlen (Anaheim, Calif.)
Medical Support: Maria Boquiren (Culver City, Calif.)

Pool A
BCH - PGE Skra Belchatow (POL)
AAH - Al Ahly (EGY)
PAY - Paykan (IRI)
AAR - Al Arabi Doha (QAT)

Pool B
TRE - Trentino (ITA)
MOS - Dynamo Moscow (RUS)
PMI (USA)
BLV - Drean Bolivar (ARG)

FIVB Men’s Club World Championship Schedule
(all times PT)
Pool B
Dec. 15: BLV def. PMI-BLV, 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-21)
Dec. 16: TRE def. MOS, 3-0 (25-21 25-23 27-25)
Dec. 17: MOS def. PMI, 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-23)
Dec. 17: TRE-BLV, 4 a.m.
Dec. 19: MOS-BLV, 4 a.m.
Dec. 19: TRE-PMI, 6 a.m.

Semifinals
Dec. 20: 1A v 2B, 1 a.m.
Dec. 20: 1B v 2A, 8 a.m.

Finals
Dec. 21: Third-place match, 1 a.m.
Dec. 21: First-place match, 8 a.m.

Tags: Chris Jackson, FIVB, FIVB Club World Championship, Gary Sato, Tyler Hildebrand