The United States men's national volleyball team missed its chance at an automatic berth into the FIVB World League Final Round after the Russians beat the Americans, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19, on Saturday night at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

The Russians (10-2) advance to Cordoba, Argentina for the final round beginning July 21. The U.S. finishes with an 8-4 record.

Serbia (9-3) earned the lone at-large bid as the best overall second-place team in any pool.

Russia won its second set of the night, guaranteeing its spot in the finals, based on points. The Americans not only needed to win but had to win by at least a 3-1 margin.

The Russians won the first set, taking away any margin of error from the outset. The U.S. came back to win the second set.

Russia dominated the third set and then rallied from a deficit to claim set and match.

Stanford grad Kevin Hansen is the U.S. setter, though he was subbed out during the third set.

Beach volleyball
Stanford grad Matt Fuerbringer and partner Nick Lucena fell to the seventh-seeded duo of Poland's Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, 21-14, 21-18, in the quarterfinals of the $600,000 1to1 energy Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland on Saturday.

USA Track and field
Stanford grad Nick Welihozkiy finished fifth in the men's discus throw with a mark of 165-11 at the National Club track and field championships Saturday at San Francisco State.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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