U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe (on leave from Long Beach State) knows that his team must win at least one match against Netherlands in FIVB World League play this weekend in Wichita, Kan., to secure first place in Pool A and advance to the final round in Belgrade, Serbia.
But Knipe does not feel any pressure being in the driver’s seat.
“What you want (in the last weekend of World League) is to have something to play for and have it in your control,” Knipe said. “Our job is to take care of the things we can control.”
The United States will do its best to keep things in its control when it plays Netherlands on July 17-18 (7 p.m. CT both nights) at Charles Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University. The United States leads Pool A with a 7-3 record. Netherlands is in third place at 4-6.
The United States is the defending World League champion.
While Netherlands cannot catch the U.S., it could play spoiler if it won both matches and Italy, which is in second at 6-4, wins both of its matches in China. The United States has a record of 22-31 against Netherlands since 1981.
Team USA opened World League by playing Netherlands in Rotterdam and fell in the first match, 0-3 (22-25, 19-25, 24-26). However, the U.S. came back to win the second match, 3-2 (25-16, 30-32, 25-17, 20-25, 15-6).
“First off, they played really well against us, especially on Night 1,” Knipe said. “I thought we played a lot better Night 2. They have some guys who have some experience.”
U.S. middle blocker David Lee, a former 49er, is fourth among all blockers with an average of 0.74 per set.
Most members of the 2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball Team attended the ESPY Awards on Wednesday night, although the team was not nominated for an award. The show will be broadcast on ESPN on July 19.
U.S. Men’s Team Roster for July 17-18
2 Sean Rooney (OH, 6-9, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3 Evan Patak (Opp, 6-8, Pleasanton, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
4 David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5 Rich Lambourne (L, 6-3, Tustin, Calif., BYU)
6 Paul Lotman (OH, 6-7, Lakewood, Calif., Long Beach State)
7 Donald Suxho (S, 6-5, Korce, Albania, USC)
8 Andrew Hein (MB, 611, Carol Stream, Ill., Pepperdine)
9 Jonathan Winder (S, 6-8, Irvine, Calif., Pepperdine)
10 David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine)
12 C Tom Hoff (MB, 6-8, Park Ridge, Ill., Long Beach State)
13 Clay Stanley (OPP, 6-9, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Hawai’i)
14 Kevin Hansen (S, 6-5, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford)
18 Scott Touzinsky (OH, 6-6, St. Louis, Mo., Long Beach State)
19 Alfee Reft (L, 5-10, Oxnard, Calif., Hawai’i)