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U.S. Men to Host Argentina in Irvine for Olympic Exhibition Match
By Bill Kauffman // USA Volleyball // April 15, 2008
ANAHEIM, Calif. (April 14, 2008) – USA Volleyball, in conjunction with NBC and the U.S. Olympic Committee, will host an Olympic Exhibition volleyball match between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Argentina on May 27 in Irvine, Calif.
The match will be played at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center (seats 4,984) on the campus of UC Irvine and will be broadcast tape delayed by MSNBC on June 1 at noon Eastern Time.
Ticket purchase information will be announced at a later date.
The U.S. Men’s headquarters are just a few miles up the road from Irvine in Anaheim, Calif., at the American Sports Center. The U.S. Men’s National Team is ranked third in the world and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games by winning the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in January in Puerto Rico.
The Olympic Exhibition will be the only opportunity this year for fans to see the U.S. Men’s National Team play in Southern California. Two weeks later, the team will leave for Finland to begin play in the 2008 FIVB World League, which starts June 13. Team USA will play three domestic World League matches in Hoffman Estates, Ill. (June 20-21 against Bulgaria), Green Bay, Wis. (June 27-28 against Finland) and Bloomington, Ill. (July 11-12 against Spain).
“We are really looking forward to playing Argentina in front of our home crowd in Orange County,” said U.S. Men’s Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand). “This will be a great way for our team to warm up for World League and help us to make some decisions about our Olympic roster.”
Argentina is ranked sixth in the world and will be vying for an Olympic berth at the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament on May 31-June 8 in Tokyo, Japan
Since 1981, the U.S. Men have a 38-8 record against Argentina. The teams played three times in 2007, with Team USA winning all three matches in three sets. On July 24, the U.S. Men beat Argentina at the Pan American Games in Brazil (25-17, 25-22, 25-21). On Aug. 16, Team USA won its match at the Americas’ Cup in Brazil (25-20, 25-14, 25-19). Finally, on Dec. 1, the United States defeated Argentina in the FIVB World Cup in Japan (25-16, 25-19, 25-18).
The 2008 Olympic Games begin with the Opening Ceremonies on Aug. 8 and the volleyball competition will begin the next day with men’s and women’s teams alternating their competition days.
The U.S. Men’s National Team home page is http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/mnthome.asp.
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