United States upsets Italy in volleyball World Cup
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See the article in its original context from November 1999.
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Cuba and
Russia, with four victories in the 12-nation men's volleyball world Cup round-robin tournament on Monday.
Playing in Kumamoto, on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, Mike Lambert scored 14 points to lead the United States to a 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 victory over Italy.
Italy, winner of world championships in 1990, 1994 and 1998, is 2-2 along with Spain, Canada and South Korea, but stood fourth on the basis of sets won and lost.
``Today our rhythm was good, while the Italian team's rhythm wasn't very good. That helped us a lot. The Italian team made a lot of mistakes. We had fewer mistakes," said American head coach Doug Beal.
European silver medalist and 1991 world Cup champion Russia, led by Iakovlev Roman with 25 points, scored a 25-20, 21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-12 victory over Brazil, a bronze medalist in the 1995 World Cup. Russia is 4-0 and Brazil 1-3. In the third match in Kumamoto, China scored its first victory against three defeats by beating winless Tunisia 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18.
At Hiroshima, western Japan, Cuba, the 1998 world championship bronze medalist, beat Canada 25-17, 25-17, 26-24 for its. fourth victory against no defeats. Osvaldo Hernandez scored 14 points and Pavel Pimienta had 11 points for Cuba.
“Our team was superior to Canada in blocking and serving, and our blocking blotted out their spiking," said Cuban coach Juan Diaz.
