2004 Olympics: Other Sports

12:05 AM CDT on Monday, August 30, 2004

By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – The U.S. men's volleyball team had by far its best Olympic showing since 1992. But it didn't result in a medal.

The United States lost to Russia, 3-0, in Sunday's bronze-medal match at Peace & Friendship Stadium to finish fourth.

The first two sets looked like anything but a sweep in the making, with Russia pulling out 25-22 and 27-25 wins. But the United States couldn't bounce back from the frustration of wasting two set points in the second, and Russia cruised to a 25-16 third-set victory.

"A month ago, if you'd said we'd have a chance to play in the final four at the Olympics, I'd have taken it in a New York minute," captain and setter Lloy Ball said. "We didn't have tremendous expectations for this team. We just wanted to get out of our pool."

That was a fair goal considering the United States was last in 2000. The Americans had won gold in 1984 and '88 and bronze in '92 but dropped to ninth in '96 before failing to win a match in Sydney.

"It was a mental breakdown," Ball said of the 2000 Olympics. "That team had more physicality than this team. But it lacked collective heart as a group. This group has two or three guys who are 6-3, 6-4, going against guys [for Russia] who are 7-foot. This team has collective heart."

It demonstrated that by rallying for a dramatic, come-from-behind win over Greece in the quarterfinals. But the United States couldn't build on that momentum in its last two matches, getting swept by eventual gold medalist Brazil in the semifinals.

"I'm happy with the way we fought in our match against Greece," Ball said. "I'm not happy with the way we arrived in our match against Brazil and the way we finished today. I feel like we crescendoed in the Greece match and then fell off."

Ball, 32, said this Olympics, his third, would be his last. But several of his younger teammates earned valuable experience for 2008.

"We had a young team here," said middle blocker and second-time Olympian Ryan Millar, 26. "We'll have a lot of guys back in Beijing, and they'll be experienced guys."

E-mail rcohen@dallasnews.com