U.S. volleyball team avoids upset, tops Venezuela

BEIJING — Twenty-four hours before taking the court for their first scheduled Beijing Summer Games match, members of the United States men's volleyball team were looking forward to making a strong opening statement with the Olympic debut of head coach Hugh McCutcheon.

The Americans had worked hard for nearly four years under the New Zealand native and former BYU player and assistant coach, achieving a No. 3 international ranking and this summer's World League title.

Then came the call that sent McCutcheon rushing from Saturday's early afternoon practice, with a couple of hours passing before the players learning the gravity of the situation — that McCutcheon's in-laws had been stabbed at a Beijing tourist site by a knife-wielding assailant, that Todd Bachman had died from the attack and that Barbara Bachman suffered life-threatening injuries requiring eight hours of surgery later that day.

With heavy hearts and cluttered minds, the U.S. team took to the Capital Gymnasium court Sunday and struggled to defeat Venezuela in the maximum five sets.

Afterward, the Americans acknowledged the challenge to play without McCutcheon, who spent the day with his wife, Elisabeth, in caring for Barbara Bachman.

Known as "Wiz" when she played at UCLA and with the U.S. women's national and Olympic teams, Elisabeth McCutcheon was present but not injured during the attack.

"There's nothing in comparison to the loss that happened to our team, to USA volleyball and to our whole delegation," said U.S. team captain Tom Hoff. "We came to do this (play volleyball), but it's very hard to carry on."

With assistant coach Ron Larsen leading the squad, the U.S. overcame losses in the third and four sets to post the 25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10 victory over Venezuela.

"It's a difficult situation for everybody," said middle blocker Ryan Millar, who also played for McCutcheon for four years at BYU. "I can't even imagine how Hugh and Wiz are dealing with this."