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August 15, 2004 7:39 pm

Men’s volleyball takes positives out of loss to Italy

By BRYCE MILLER

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece —The way Clay Stanley sees it, the U.S. men’s volleyball loss to Italy in its Olympic debut on Sunday provided more positives than pain.

The Americans pushed world-No. 2 Italy before falling 3-1 in a best-of-five Olympic preliminary match at Peace & Friendship Stadium.

The United States, which features Stanley and six other first-time Olympians, raced to within two points of forcing a fifth and deciding set before the Italians rallied.

"This tells us we can play with that team — and we can play with any team," said Stanley, a 6-foot-9 right-side hitter from Honolulu.

The United States, ranked fifth in the world, lost the opening set 25-21 but rallied to win the second by the same score as Stanley recorded three of his team-high 14 kills after the set was tied at 10.

Italy showed why it won a bronze medal in 2000 by winning the last two sets, 25-17 and 25-23.

Some post-match chatter brought members of both teams to the net.

"It was pretty intense, as you saw," said Stanley, who played for the University of Hawaii. "I think it’s all left on the court, though."

The United States hopes to rebound at this Olympics after disappointing finishes in 1996 (9th) and 2000 (11th). The Americans won three consecutive medals — golds in 1984 and ’88, and bronze in ’92 — before slipping.

U.S. captain Lloy Ball, the only American playing in his third Olympics, said the team will turn its focus to its Tuesday match against the Netherlands.

"We’re going to whine and groan about this for about two hours," said Ball, who played at Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, "then forget about it and think about Holland."

Reid Priddy, a 6-5 outside hitter who attended high school in Phoenix and college at Loyola Marymount, said the U.S. was putting pressure on the Italians — but a fifth set never materialized.

"We feel real good in a fifth set," Priddy said. "We get stronger as the match goes on."

The Americans struggled receiving serves, handling 30.7 percent successfully compared to 62.8 for the Italians.

"We know we’ve got a lot more than we put out tonight," Priddy said. "We’re confident we’ll see that team again."

The top four teams in each of the two pools advance to the quarterfinals.

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