U.S. Men's Sitting Team Falls to Germany

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

EDMOND, Okla. (July 15, 2010) – In a battle of experience versus enthusiasm, experience won out as the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team fell to Germany, 25-13, 25-21, 25-20 in a match that determined who would advance to the quarterfinals at the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships on Thursday at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team falls to 2-3 and will play in the bracket that determines ninth through 12th place.  The U.S. Men’s next match will be at 6 p.m. CT on Friday on Court 2 against Serbia. Live video streaming of all matches is available at the 2010 World Championships web site.

Germany (5-1) advances to play Egypt in the next round on Friday.

The U.S. Women (5-0) had Thursday off after winning Pool B on Wednesday and will return to the court at 1:30 p.m. CT on Friday to play Russia, the fourth-place team out of Pool A. The match is scheduled to be played on Court 2.

The U.S. Men and their large group of fans were enthusiastic about their chances following their third-place pool finish that advanced them to the top half of the bracket. The U.S. Men led by as many as five points in both the second and third sets, but could not shut down Germany’s hard hitters long enough to get a win.

“It’s not so much about what we didn’t do as what Germany did do,” U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Head Coach Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania) said. “Germany started digging deep into its bag of tricks and experience.

“We played timid at the end. We just didn’t take hard swings.”

Team USA was led by Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) with eight points on eight kills. Brent Rasmussen (Omaha, Neb.) added seven points on six kills and one block. James Stuck (New Kensington, Pa.) scored six points on three kills and three blocks and Edgar Laforest (San Juan, Puerto Rico) added six points on five kills and one block.

Germany had eight aces while the U.S. had none. Germany out-blocked the United States 8-6 and Germany’s attack percentage was 0.33 while the United States’ was 0.29.

After coming out a little timid and losing the first set 25-13, the U.S. Men took a 4-1 lead to open the second, scoring three straight points behind the serving of Dan Regan (St. Louis, Mo.). Germany fought back to take a 6-5 lead, but its next serve went long and Team USA scored the next two points on Germany’s hitting error and a kill by Stuck to lead 8-6 at the first technical timeout (TTO). Germany scored the next three points to lead 9-8. Laforest responded by blocking the serve to tie the score and give Roderick Green (West Monroe, La.) the serve. Team USA went on a 5-0 run, including two blocks from Laforest and one from Stuck. Germany ended the run with a kill, but the U.S. led 16-11 at the second TTO. Later, with the U.S. still leading 19-16, Germany blocked the serve and Jens Faerber took the serve for the Europeans, scoring the next four points to put Germany ahead 21-19. Laforest tooled the block and a Germany hitting error tied the score at 21-21. But the U.S. had three straight errors to allow the Germans to reach set point at 24-21 and they ended it with a kill.

The U.S. Men took an 8-7 lead at the first TTO of the third set, scoring on four kills, including two from Stuck and one by Laforest, along with four German errors. After the break, Laforest served the U.S. to two more points for a 10-7 lead. Team USA extended the lead to 12-8 before Germany scored four straight points to tie it at 12-12. Germany was called for a net violation, which sparked a four-point run that gave Team USA a 16-12 lead at the second TTO. Germany scored with an attack off the block before Team USA scored two more points on spikes by Duda and Laforest to lead 18-13. But Germany was not done. With the U.S. leading 19-15, Germany took the serve with a kill and scored eight straight points, including three German points and five U.S. errors, to reach match point. The run ended on Germany’s hitting error, but the U.S. served into the net to end the match.

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

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’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

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

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