July 28, 2004

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U.S. women have chance to avenge water polo loss to Greece

by Rick Eymer

The U.S. women's Olympic water polo team will have one final chance at starting a win streak and avenging its most recent loss when the Americans compete in the six-nation Pre-Olympic Tournament beginning Thursday in Goriza, Italy.

Team USA, which was upended by Greece, 5-4, in the finals of the Thetis Cup on Sunday in Volos, Greece, will open this week's tourney against Greece.

The U.S. also will play Australia and Hungary on Friday and then will face Kazakhstan before wrapping things up against host Italy.

The focus, of course, is on Greece, which snapped Team USA's streak of six straight first-place finishes in international tourney play. The U.S. only failed to play for first or third in one international event since 1999 - a fifth place in last year's Thetis Cup.

The Cup bedeviled the Americans again last weekend as they fell behind by 5-1 in the third quarter before finally getting things going.

"In the second half, we did okay," said U.S. coach Guy Baker, "but we just couldn't put the ball away. But Greece has playing well. They are the world's most-improved team this year. They just really took it to us in the first half and we finally responded in the third, but by then it was too late. This game was frustrating for us."

Three of USA's four goals came on 6-on-5 situations. Stanford grad Ellen Estes led the U.S. with two goals. The U.S. converted only three of seven chances with a man advantage.

The U.S. began its pre-Olympic tour of Europe with an 8-8 tie against Italy in the opening round of the Thetis Cup.

The six-team tournament features No. 1 USA, No. 2 Italy, No. 3 Russia, Olympic host Greece (9), No. 8 Spain, and unranked Kazakhstan.

The U.S. managed a first place finish at the first-ever FINA World League Super Finals in Long Beach, Calif., last month, its sixth straight gold medal performance in a streak that dates to July, 2003.

Italy led 3-2 at the half, but the U.S. rallied in the third quarter. The U.S. surrendered four goals in the fourth quarter, including a 5-on-6 goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game. The U.S. didn't get a shot off on its final possession.

The U.S. took the 8-7 lead with 36 seconds left on a penalty goal by Stanford grad Brenda Villa, but Italy came the other way to tie it on a player-up.

"We gave up two bad goals in the first half, but we regrouped well and played good defense in the third quarter," Baker said.

Villa led the U.S. with three goals in the win, while team captain Heather Moody tossed in two.

The U.S. defeated Kazakhstan 6-5 in a non-standings game on Saturday.

Top-ranked USA trailed 2-1 after one quarter to Kazakhstan, but scored three times in the second quarter scores to take a lead into halftime.

The game did not count in the standings for either team. Kazakhstan played a tough bracket game against No. 3 Russia, losing 10-7.
Softball

The United States finished its "Aiming for Athens" tour last week by sweeping a doubleheader from the Stratford Brackettes, 14-0 and 8-0, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,320.

The United States completed its tour with a 53-0 record, and have won 166 in a row in pre-Olympic tours dating to 1996. The U.S. outscored its opponents 476-14.

Team USA arrives in Athens, Greece on Wednesday to begin two-weeks of preparation before the Olympic Games.

Set for competition beginning August 14, the Americans will look to defend their two-time Olympic gold medal against a stellar field that includes Olympic silver medalist Japan and bronze medalist Australia.

Stanford grad Jessica Mendoza batted .376 with 10 home runs and 38 RBI for the Americans. Stanford junior Lauren Lappin, an Olympic alternate, appeared in 10 games with the national team.

Stanford coach John Rittman is an assistant coach for Team USA.

Crystl Bustos led the Americans with a .500 average, 24 homers and 94 RBI. She also had a 1.091 slugging average.

The pitching staff of Cat Osterman (16-0, 0.00 ERA), Lisa Fernandez (13-0, 0.21), Jennie Finch (15-0, 0.27), and Lori Harrigan (9-0, 0.83) combined for an 0.29 ERA. Finch struck out 208 in 100 innings, Osterman struck out 170 in 74 innings and Fernandez struck out 118 in 86 innings.
Women's volleyball

The United States women's national volleyball team clinched a spot in the final round of the World Grand Prix with a 24-13, 21-25, 25-21, 25-15 victory over Russia on Thursday at Stadthalle Rostock in Rostock, Germany.

The Americans (6-3 in pool play, 16-10 overall) open championship play against China this Thursday in Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Stanford grad Logan Tom scored a match-high 20 points to lead three players in double-figures for Team USA. Tom had 17 kills, two blocks and one service ace.

Tayyiba Haneef scored 14 points and Heather Bown added 10 points for the Americans, who won Grand Prix championships in 1995 and 2001 and earned a bronze medal last year.

Haneef had 13 kills and one block while Bown posted a match-high five blocks and five kills as the United States improved its overall season record to 15-9.

On Friday, the United States defeated Thailand, 25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-5, Haneef scored a team-high 16 points. She had 15 kills and one block as the Americans won their third match in three weeks over Thailand.

Tom and Stanford senior Ogonna Nnamani scored 15 and 13 points, respectively, as the United States won its third-straight match.

Tom had 12 kills and three blocks while playing just the first two sets and maintained her status as the tournament's top scorer with 145 points (120 kills, 15 blocks, 10 service aces).

Nnamani had 11 kills and two blocks. As a team, the United States outblocked Thailand 19-6. Elisabeth Bachman led the way with a match-high four blocks as part of her nine total points.

The Americans ended pool play, losing to Germany, 25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 25-17, 15-12, on Saturday as Angelina Grun scored a match-high 21 points.

Grun had 16 kills, three blocks and two service aces as Germany finished the preliminary round with a record of 5-4 to edge out Russia in the six-team final round.

Haneef had a team-high 17 points to lead four players in double figures for the United States, which finished in fourth place overall behind Brazil (9-0), Cuba (8-1) and China (7-2).

Tom scored 13 points, Bown added 12 points and four-time Olympian Tara Cross-Battle posted 10 points for the United States.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the tournament semifinals on Saturday. The third-place and championship matches are scheduled for Sunday.

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