2012 U.S. Men's Season Review the semifinals where they defeated their NORCECA foe Cuba, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23.
the second set.” Team USA suffered its first loss of the 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 4 when it fell to Russia, 27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 25-16, 15-8 after holding a match point in the third set.
In the final, the U.S. Men lost to Poland, 25-17, 26-24, 2520. The team won $500,000 for second place and won its first World League medal since it won the title in 2008.
“I think (Russia) made some changes to their personnel and they started to serve really aggressively,” middle blocker David Lee said. “They put us in a bad position where we couldn’t side out and we couldn’t run our offense.”
“In the beginning of World League, I didn’t think we’d be in this position,” said Stanley, who won the Best Server award for the Final Round. “I thought our team improved each weekend. We did a lot of great things to get to this final, although I’m disappointed in how we showed up to play tonight.”
Despite the loss, the U.S. Men still led Pool B and won the pool with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 victory over Tunisia on Aug. 6. U.S. opposite David McKienzie got his first Olympic Games start in the tournament and led the team with 17 points with 14 kills on 25 attacks, two aces and a block.
It was the first time that the U.S. Men have medaled in World League in the same year that the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team has medaled in the FIVB Grand Prix. The U.S. Women won the Grand Prix on July 1.
The U.S. Men advanced to the quarterfinals, where they found themselves playing their old World League foe, Italy, which had finished fourth in Pool A where it went 3-2. The matchup proved to be a bad one for Team USA, which ended its season with a 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 loss to Italy on Aug. 8.
“I’m disappointed in the way we played tonight,” Knipe said. “But a lot of really good things have come out in the last few weeks. These were important matches for us. We wanted to reach the final and experience these matches and build toward the Olympic Games.” The U.S. Men returned to Anaheim for their final training block before the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where it hoped to become the first country to win the men’s volleyball gold medal four times. During the break, the U.S. Men’s A2 Team won the Pan American Cup, defeating Argentina in the final. The Olympic men’s volleyball tournament, which was played at Earls Court in London, began with pool play on July 29 as the U.S. Men easily handled Serbia, 25-16, 25-22, 2521. They followed that with a victory over Germany on July 31, 25-23, 25-16, 25-20.
“It was frustrating for us,” Knipe said. “When we look back at this we will see we had lots of opportunities to win the first set. We came in with a really good game plan and when we were in our game plan and executing it, we were winning points.” The U.S. Men finished the tournament tied for fifth. After the season, most of the U.S. athletes went to play on international teams. Knipe returned to his position as head coach of the men’s volleyball team at Long Beach State University.
On Aug. 2, the U.S. Men defeated world No. 1 and topranked Brazil, 23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-17 and took the lead in Pool B. “It was an important match,” setter Donald Suxho said. “We worked hard and got better by sticking together and trusting each other more. (Brazil) is the best team in the world. The first set it was all them and we had to adapt and change for 42