Stanley, Priddy power Americans past Italy

BEIJING (TICKER) —Clayton Stanley had 19 kills and William Priddy added 18 to pace the United States men’s volleyball team to a 3-1 triumph over Italy in a Pool A match on Tuesday.

David Lee had five blocks, and Ryan Millar and Stanley had three apiece for the United States, which recorded a 24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21 victory.

“I think today’s match had a lot to do with our serving and Italy’s receiving,” coach Ron Larsen said. “That helped us play a good block and defense. I think we did a pretty good job.”

The Americans were still without head coach Hugh McCutcheon, whose in-laws were attacked over the weekend. Todd Bachman was killed and wife Barbara remains in stable condition after they were attacked by a Chinese man with a knife while visiting the 13th-century Drum Tower in Beijing on Saturday.

The attacker, later identified as Tang Yongming, 47, then committed suicide, throwing himself from the ancient monument.

“Hugh had not been involved in the game planning since what happened,” Larsen said. “He doesn’t have to worry about the game. We have spent four years approaching this game and preparing for it. We would not even ask him to worry about the games.

“He knows his priority - his family, first and foremost.”

Hristo Zlatanov had 16 kills and three blocks for the Italians.

In Group B matches, Russia rallied for a 3-2 (25-27, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 16-14) victory over Germany and Poland breezed past Egypt with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 21-10) triumph. Brazil also was victorious, posting a 25-27, 25-20, 25-17, 25-21 win over Serbia.

China rallied for a 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 16-14) victory over Venezuela in Pool A. Also in Pool A, Bulgaria defeated Japan, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19.

In beach volleyball, Americans Sean Rosenthal and Jacob Gibb won their second straight game with a 21-15, 21-13 triumph over Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann of Germany in Group F.

The United States duo looked very impressive with a variety of attacks that kept the German team off-balance.

Rosenthal had 13 successful attacks, while the 6-7 Gibb had 11 and five blocks. The pair converted on 71 percent (24-of-34) of their attacks.

The Chinese men’s beach volleyball duo of Linyin Xu and Penggen Wu rallied to a three-set triumph over Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik of Estonia in a Group A match.

The Chinese pair rallied after dropping the first set to post a 15-21, 21-11, 15-13 triumph.

Wu was successful on 24 of 45 attacks and had 23 digs, while Xu had seven blocks for China.

In a Group A match, Clemens Doppler and Peter Gartmayer of Austria recorded a 2-1 (20-22, 21-19, 15-11) victory over Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil. Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Raul Mesa were also triumphant in Group A, defeating Florian Gosch and Alexander Horst of Austria in straight sets.

Japan’s Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori were victorious over Emiel Boersma and Bram Ronnes of the Netherlands in Group F, while Russian duo Igor Kolodinskiy and Dmitry Barsuk defeated Italy’s Eugenio Amore and Riccardo Lione in straight sets in Group D.