The United States, ranked No. 5 in the world, improved its World Cup record to 5-2. Korea, which is ranked 19th in the world and received a wild card entry into the World Cup, fell to 1-6. The U.S. Men will close out round three on Tuesday against Australia, the Asian zone champion ranked 23rd in the world, at 1:05 p.m. local time (8 p.m. on Monday, PST).

U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) went with a young starting lineup on Monday, starting Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) for usual starting hitter Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) and starting Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.) at setter for veteran Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.). He did not use any substitutes.

“We played well, particularly defensively,” McCutcheon said. “We had good blocking and defense and it was an all-around good performance.”

Lee (Alpine, Calif.) led the U.S. Men in scoring on Monday with 12 points on seven blocks, four kills and one ace. Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) added 11 points on seven blocks and four kills. Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.) tallied 11 points on 10 kills and one ace. Rooney scored 10 points on nine kills and one block.

Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) added nine points on seven kills, one block and one ace.

Hansen, who was named the Most Important Player of the match, scored five points on three blocks, one kill and one ace. He was credited with 26 running sets, 22 still sets and one fault on 49 attempts and he set the U.S. Men to a 58.33 kill percentage.

Libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) was credited with seven receptions, behind 12 each from Salmon and Rooney. Lambourne was also credited with three digs. As a team, the United States was credited with 33 “excellent” receptions on 45 attempts with two faults for 68.89 percent.

Korea was paced by Yo-Han Kim, who had 10 points on 10 kills. Jun-Bum Park and Sung-Min Moon each had nine points.

In the first set, the U.S. Men led 8-7 at the first technical timeout and extended that to 16-10 at the second TTO. The U.S. attacks were too strong for Korea, which had only two blocks in the first set as compared to seven for Team USA. The United States closed out the first set with a triple block.

Team USA raced to an 8-2 lead at the first TTO of the second set. Trailing 14-6, Korea made a brief run on two straight spikes by Kim Yo-Han to cut the U.S. lead to 14-8. But Team USA held it off and led 16-9 at the second TTO.

Moon’s kill got the Koreans to 10 points and they briefly rallied again to close the gap to five at 17-12, but Shin Yung-Suk served into the net.

Lee’s ace made it 20-12. Salmon slammed home a spike on the left to make it 23-14, followed by kills from Rooney and Millar to finish out the set.

The U.S. Men held a four-point advantage at the first TTO of the third set. Park blocked well to reduce the U.S. lead to two but Millar answered with a block before Gardner’s spike made it 10-6 and Korea called timeout.

Two blocks from Lee helped Team USA increase its lead to 13-8, but the Koreans rallied to reduce that gap to 13-11, causing McCutcheon to call for a timeout. The timeout seemed to help as Rooney spiked twice and Park served into the net to give the United States a 16-12 edge at the second TTO.

Salmon’s spike made it 21-15. Millar’s block made it 22-15, Gardner and Hansen got the team to match point with consecutive kills and Lee finished out the match with a kill.

The FIVB Men’s World Cup web site is at www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldCup/2007/Men/.

The Japanese World Cup web site is at www.vbworldcup.jp/2007/en.

2007 FIVB World Cup

U.S. Men’s Roster
(No., Name, Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 Lloy Ball (S, 6-8, Woodburn, Ind., Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne)
2 Sean Rooney (OH, 6-9, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3 Jim Polster (OH, 6-6, Laguna Niguel, Calif., Long Beach State)
4 David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5 Rich Lambourne (L, 6-3, Tustin, Calif., BYU)
8 Reid Priddy (OH, 6-5, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9 Ryan Millar (MB, 6-8, Palmdale, Calif., BYU)
10 Riley Salmon (OH, 6-6, League City, Texas, Pierce College)
12 Tom Hoff (MB, 6-8, Park Ridge, Ill., Long Beach State)
13 Clay Stanley (OPP, 6-9, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Hawai’i)
14 Kevin Hansen (S, 6-5, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford)
15 Gabe Gardner (OPP, 6-9, San Clemente, Calif., Stanford)

Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon
Team Manager: Marv Dunphy
Assistant Coach: Ron Larsen
Assistant Coach: John Speraw
Doctor: Dr. Alex Torres
Technical Coordinator: Jamie Morrison
Medical Support: Aaron Brock
Technical Consultant: Radford Nakamura
Technical Consultant: Charles Sullivan

Standings (points)
Russia 7-0 (14)
USA 5-2 (12)
* Brazil 5-1 (11)
Argentina 4-3 (11)
*Bulgaria 4-2 (10)
Spain 3-4 (10)
* Japan 3-3 (7)
*Puerto Rico 3-3 (9)
* Australia 3-3 (9)
Korea 1-6 (8)
*Tunisia 1-5 (7)
Egypt 0-7 (7)
* Denotes current day’s match not included in standings

First Round

Nov. 18 - Matsumoto
USA def. Brazil (28-26, 30-28, 25-20)
Bulgaria def. Spain (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, 25-17)
Puerto Rico def. Egypt (25-17, 25-19, 25-17)
Nov. 18 - Saitama
Australia def. Korea (22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 29-27)
Tunisia def. Japan (22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 16-14)
Russia def. Argentina (25-16, 25-22, 25-17)
Nov. 19 - Matsumoto
Puerto Rico def. USA (25-21, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22)
Bulgaria def. Egypt (25-19 25-18 23-25 25-18)
Brazil def. Spain (30-28, 25-17, 25-16)
Nov. 19 - Saitama
Russia def. Australia (22-25, 26-28, 10-25)
Argentina def. Tunisia (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23)
Japan def. Korea (25-15, 25-20, 25-21)
Nov. 20 - Matsumoto
Spain def. USA (21-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-20)
Brazil def. Egypt (25-18, 25-14, 25-17)
Bulgaria def. Puerto Rico (19-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-17)
Nov. 20 - Saitama
Argentina def. Korea (26-24, 25-22, 25-20)
Russia def. Tunisia (22-25, 25-15, 25-12, 25-16)
Australia def. Japan (25-19, 25-21, 25-21)

Second Round

Nov. 22 - Toyama
Brazil def. Puerto Rico (25-13, 25-21, 25-17)
Spain def. Egypt (25-19, 25-21, 25-19)
USA def. Bulgaria (29-27, 20-25, 28-30, 25-22, 15-12)
Nov. 22 - Hiroshima
Australia def. Tunisia (25-22, 35-37, 26-24, 25-22)
Russia def. Korea (25-16, 25-14, 25-19)
Japan def. Argentina (25-23, 25-19, 26-24)
Nov. 23 - Toyama
USA def. Egypt (25-22, 25-18, 25-19)
Puerto Rico def. Spain (25-18, 25-22, 25-18)
Brazil def. Bulgaria (25-14 25-21 25-19)
Nov. 23 – Hiroshima
Korea def. Tunisia (25-17 23-25 21-25 25-22 15-9)
Argentina def. Australia (25-21 21-25 25-14 25-23)
Russia def. Japan (19-25 20-25 23-25)

Third Round

Nov. 25 – Okayama
USA def. Tunisia (22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17)
Bulgaria def. Korea (25-20 25-20 25-19)
Brazil def. Australia (25-19 25-19 25-21)
Nov. 25 – Fukuoka
Argentina def. Puerto Rico (19-25 22-25 25-16 25-21 15-13)
Russia def. Spain (25-21, 25-13, 25-15)
Japan def. Egypt (25-17 19-25 21-25 25-23 15-9)
Nov. 26 – Okayama
USA def. Korea (25-18, 25-15, 25-18)
Australia vs. Bulgaria
Brazil vs. Tunisia
Nov. 26 – Fukuoka
Spain def. Argentina (26-24, 25-22, 25-18)
Russia def. Egypt (25-19, 25-18, 25-19)
Japan vs. Puerto Rico
Nov. 27 – Okayama
Australia vs. USA
Bulgaria vs. Tunisia
Brazil vs. Korea
Nov. 27 – Fukuoka
Argentina vs. Egypt
Puerto Rico vs. Russia
Japan vs. Spain

Fourth Round

Nov. 30 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. Brazil
Bulgaria vs. Russia
Japan vs. USA
Nov. 30 – Tokyo B
Puerto Rico vs. Tunisia
Egypt vs. Korea
Australia vs. Spain
Dec. 1 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. USA
Brazil vs. Russia
Japan vs. Bulgaria
Dec. 1 – Tokyo B
Egypt vs. Tunisia
Spain vs. Korea
Australia vs. Puerto Rico
Dec. 2 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. Bulgaria
Russia vs. USA
Japan vs. Brazil
Dec. 2 – Tokyo B
Spain vs. Tunisia
Korea vs. Puerto Rico
Australia vs. Egypt