Brazilians too tough for American women’s volleyball squad

By STEVE RIVERA

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece — The United States women’s volleyball team fought to the bitter end, but couldn’t pull off a victory against Brazil Tuesday night at Peace & Friendship Stadium.

Team USA fought back from a 2-0 deficit to even the match at 2-2 but couldn’t stop the Brazilians in the fifth set to win 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

"We just had no strength left for the fifth set,’’ said the United States’ Ogonna NNamani. "Nothing went as we expected.’’

Brazil jumped out to a 6-0 lead and later 7-1 in the fifth set and breezed to a 15-6 final set victory to defeat Team USA 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 15-16. It was only the second time at the 2004 Athens Games Brazil had been taken to a fifth set.

"That rotation in the fifth set just killed us,’’ said Heather Bown, a 6-3 middle blocker and former University of Hawaii All-American. "It’s hard to come back in the fifth set when you’re down 7-1.’’

Team USA played with grit and guts throughout the match, but fell in the first two sets in similar situations where Brazil took early leads and the United States fought back yet couldn’t overcome the Brazilians.

"We kind of had it in the first and second set,’’ Bown said, of making it close. "We kept fighting. That’s the one thing I really admire about this team. The girls never gave up.’’

It showed in the third and fourth sets as Team USA turned the tables behind the defense of Logan Tom and Tayyiba Haneef. It gave the Americans hope that they could pull off a victory.

"We turned it on against Cuba,’’ Bown said, of the squad’s 3-0 victory over Cuba earlier in the week. "We were hoping we’d have the same result as the Cuba match. But Brazil is a really good team.’’

But Brazil (6-0) was too tough.

"We played hard,’’ Bown said. "It’s a tribute to the team we had. We kind of struggled early on in the tournament.’’

So ends Bown’s, Robyn ah Mow-Santos and Lindsey Berg’s quest for gold.

"I was honored to be a part of it,’’ Bown said. "It’s not like we can say we’ll get them tomorrow. We put our hearts our there. Brazil just came up a better team tonight.’’