U.S. trounces Ukraine in opening game of volleyball competition

by Roman Woronowycz

ATLANTA - On the first day of competition of the Centennial Olympics, in the first encounter between Ukraine and the United States in Olympic competition, it was not even close. The U.S. volleyball team, a favorite to medal, destroyed the Ukrainian v-ballers in three straight games, 15-8, 15-5, 15-11, in a blazingly quick 1 hour 13 minutes.

Only in the last match was it even close, Ukraine even leading twice in the match, 3-0 and 9-7, before the U.S. pulled away, 13-9.

The 1arge crowd of 14,750 spectators had not yet settled into their seats and the Americans already held an 8-0 lead in Game 1. The Ukrainians could not match the U.S. team's superior speed and, most of all, hitting strength.

Tara Cross-Battle would come from the back to deliver punishing spikes, or 186-pound Beverly Oden would deliver from the front court. And too often when the Ukrainians would set up a nice hit, an American would be there to save the ball with a nice dig.

For the Ukrainians, nine of 12 of whom are from the Luhanske club Iskra, only Olena Sydorenko showed any spark initially, digging, spiking and setting her teammates. She received support later in the match, when captain Nataliya Bozhenova began to assert her spike and also blocked several smashes by the U.S. As for 6-feet-4-inch tall Tetiana Ivaniushkina, she was there, but had trouble being effective. Several times Oden blocked her rather lackluster hits. Oleksandra Fomina saw early action, hit a few winners and kept encouraging her teammates, but then was removed by coach Garri Yegiazarov. After Game 1 she saw only sporadic action.

At the post-game press conference coach Yegiazarov and captain Bozhenova agreed that the team had the jitters. "This was the girls' first game, and they were nervous. We had never before played before such a large crowd," explained the coach. "I think that we can and will play much better."

Captain Bozhenova added, "We failed - today was a bad day, the American girls outclassed us."

U.S. Coach Terry Liskevych, who was born in Ukraine, said he could tell the Ukrainians were nervous, but that did not take away from the Americans' performance. The U.S. came out to play. "The girls have been anxious to play for about three-four weeks and it was difficult holding them back," he said.

He said he considers the Ukrainians "a very good team." He explained that perhaps they were not aggressive enough. "Their coach told me that they were not expecting to be here, so they, perhaps, did not play as aggressively as they could have."

The Ukrainian team qualified several weeks before by taking third place in Olympic trials. The squad tied with Croatia, but was given the nod because Ukraine had a better set record. In 1994 the team had finished ninth in the world championships.

The U.S. coach seemed somewhat taken aback when he was asked by this reporter if he had any special feelings before or during the game, given that his team was playing against the country of his birth. After a moment's hesitation, he acknowledged his ethnic heritage. "I would be lying if I told you that there were no special feelings. I was born in Ukraine, I came here when I was 3 years old, I speak Ukrainian fluently.

"But I am the coach of the American team, and I am a Ukrainian American, but I am not going to let that affect the way I coach and the way we play."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 28, 1996, No. 30, Vol. LXIV

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