Tom, U.S. stave off elimination in volleyball

ATHENS, Greece — Led by inspired play from Salt Lake City's Logan Tom, the U.S. team, after just one win in four tries in preliminary-round play, exploded for a straight-set victory, 25-22, 25-12, 25-19, that clinched a berth in the medal round that begins Tuesday.

With a 3-1 record entering the match, Cuba was already assured of moving on but with a victory could have tied China (4-1) with the best record in Pool B and escaped having to face the embattled U.S. squad again.

With the win, the United States joins Cuba, China and Russia (3-2) as Pool B entrants in the battle for medals against Pool A qualifiers Brazil (5-0), Italy (4-1), Korea (3-2) and Japan (2-3). The U.S. will open the medal round against the undefeated Brazilians.

Tom, who graduated from Highland High School in 1999, where she was all-state in volleyball and named national high school volleyball player of the year, had 15 spikes for the U.S. team, including the game-winner in the seesaw first set. She also contributed three service aces to lead the team, and the match, in scoring.

At the conclusion of preliminary-round play, the Stanford graduate ranks third in scoring among all players, and first on the U.S. team, with 70 spikes, 13 blocks and seven service winners to her credit, for a total of 90 points. Only Russian teammates Ekaterina Gamova and Lioubov Shashkova, with 115 and 96 points, respectively, have more.

The United States team, a fourth-place finisher in Sydney, came into the Olympics regarded by many as the favorite to win the gold. An opening-round defeat to China put the team in a hole, however, and an upset loss to the Dominican Republic (1-4) only deepened the pit. The U.S. defeated Germany (2-3) and lost to Russia before the do-or-die match against Cuba. The earlier victory over Germany enables the U.S. to move on despite their identical won-lost records.

In other Olympic news involving athletes with local ties, BYU assistant track coach Leonard Myles-Mills came up short in his bid to make the Olympic 100-meter final. The 31-year-old sprinter placed sixth in his semifinal qualifying heat Sunday night with a time of 10.22. The first four runners in the heat qualified: Asafa Powell of Jamaica in 9.95, Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and Maurice Greene of the United States with 9.97s and Kim Collins of St. Kitts/Nevia in 10.02. In the 100-meter final later Sunday night, Justin Gatlin of the United States won in 9.85, ahead of Obikwelu (9.86) and Greene (9.87).

Also, former BYU student Megan Dirkmaat of San Jose, Calif., was on the U.S. women's eight rowing team that won the silver medal Sunday morning.

Dirkmaat sat in the third chair as the American women took a slight lead over Romania at the halfway point but lost their advantage over the last half and finished second by 1.86 seconds. The team from The Netherlands finished third. The 28-year-old Dirkmaat was a student at BYU in 1998 before transferring to the University of California-Berkeley, where she became an All-American in rowing.

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