Spikers to play for bronze

ATHENS, Greece — The United States men's volleyball team will face Russia for the Olympic bronze medal Sunday. The pairing was set up in Friday's semifinal matches that saw Brazil defeat the U.S. squad in straight games, 25-16, 25-17, 25-23, and Italy stop Russia, also in straight games, 25-16, 25-17, 25-16.

The U.S. team, which features three assistant coaches who previously coached at BYU and former BYU All-American and Player of the Year Ryan Millar, entered the match against top-ranked Brazil with momentum after a stirring comeback win over Greece on Wednesday that got the Americans into the semifinal round. But in a match that saw Brazil trail only once — when the U.S. took a brief 6-5 lead on a Millar serve early in the first game — the Americans never got untracked.

Millar, who led BYU to the national championship in 1999, scored four points. Leading the U.S. was Brook Billings with nine points and Kevin Barnett with seven. Four Brazilian players scored in double figures in the lopsided contest.

Assisting U.S. head coach Doug Beal are Carl McGown, Hugh McCutcheon and Rob Browning. McGown was head coach, and McCutcheon and Browning were part of his coaching staff for the Cougars' 1999 championship. McGown, the national team's head coach from 1973-76, left BYU in 2002 after 14 seasons and a 205-131 record. Both McCutcheon and Browning played volleyball at BYU.

The former Cougars will have their bronze medal opportunity Sunday in one of the final competitions of the 2004 Athens Games. After their match at 12:30 p.m., Italy and Brazil will play for the gold. It will be the first meeting this year between the national teams of the United States and Italy.

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E-mail: lbenson@desnews.com