Poland polishes off U.S. volleyball team
United States captain Reid Priddy understands Americans aren’t exactly fanatics about Olympic-level men’s volleyball.
That’s why he translates his team’s travails into more accessible sporting lingo.
“Our team has the ability to drive the green, but then we four-putt,” Priddy said. “After you do that three, four, five times in a row, it’s hard to overcome.”
The USA four-putted again Friday night, but only after slicing their drive into the rough and needing three hacks just to nudge the ball into the bunker.
With Poland’s red- and white-clad fans waving their scarves and turning the Sears Centre into a massive visiting-court advantage, the United States was swept in World League play 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 before 4,700 in Hoffman Estates.
Poland’s improbably named Zbigniew Bartman led everyone with 14 kills in 23 attempts as his team hit 52 percent.
Bartman and his teammates received a boost from the “POL-SKA!” cheers that echoed through the arena all night — except when their fans wolf-whistled and blew horns to distract USA servers.
The match turned into such a one-sided affair, the Polish fans performed the wave for several minutes late in the final set.
“Of course we’d love to come in and see the place covered in red, white and blue and people chanting U-S-A the whole time, but it’s not an excuse,” said American coach Alan Knipe. “That’s a good volleyball environment tonight. It had absolutely nothing to do with our performance in the match.”
Knipe can say that because America split a pair of matches with top-ranked Brazil last weekend before 17,000 screaming Brazilians — the equivalent of tapping in for eagle.
Now Poland and USA share 4-3 records in Pool A of World League play. The USA needs to win Saturday’s 7 p.m. rematch in order to maintain a strong chance to reach next month’s eight-team playoffs in Poland.
“It’s huge,” Priddy said.
Officially, it’s huge only in terms of pride and money. The World League has no bearing on next year’s Olympics, save the fact half of Friday’s active roster played for the USA’s gold-medal squad in 2008.
Wheaton native Sean Rooney, a backup on that squad and perhaps this team’s finest outside hitter, traveled but did not play as he finishes rehab on his ailing shoulder.
He’s likely to return for next week’s matches against Brazil in Tulsa, Okla.
“It’d be fresh legs and some energy (if he could come back),” Priddy said. “We’ve got some guys that can help us and we’re just trying to find that right combination of players.”