For Immediate Release

March 29, 2005

USA Men to Face Netherlands in Spokane, Boise and Portland to Start ’05
Season

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The USA Men’s National Volleyball Team opens the
2005 season with three matches against the Netherlands in Washington, Idaho
and Oregon, respectively, from June 2-5, it was announced Tuesday.

The matches will be Team USA’s first international competition of the 2005
season and the first under new head coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New
Zealand). McCutcheon was named head coach on Feb. 3.

“It’s great that we get such a quality opponent to start the season,” said
McCutcheon. “We are very happy that Holland is able to come and play us.
At that stage we are going to have some younger guys on the roster, so it’s
just wonderful that we get to play such a quality team this early in our
season. It’s going to be a good experience. For the team and for the
program it’s a great way to begin.”

The series starts on Thursday, June 2 at the Star Theatre at the Spokane
Arena in Spokane, Wash., at 7 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time). Tickets for
this match go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 1, and will be available
at the Spokane Arena box office, all TicketsWest locations, TicketsWest.com
or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT. Groups of 10 or more should call 509-324-0711
to enjoy discounted prices on tickets.

The second match is scheduled for Friday, June 3 at the Bank of America
Centre in Boise, Idaho, at 7:30 p.m. (Mountain Daylight Time). Tickets for
the match in Boise go on sale Monday, April 18 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be
available at the Bank of America Centre Box Office, all Select-a-Seat
outlets, Idahotickets.com or by calling 208-331-8497.

The series then concludes on Sunday, June 5 with a 4 p.m. (PDT) match at the
Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Ore. Tickets for the series finale go on
sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 22. Tickets can be purchased at the
RoseQuarter Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by
calling 503-224-4400. For group sales call 503-963-4400.

“The opportunity to play these matches here in the United States is
wonderful,” McCutcheon added. “We would like to play a lot more events here
in the U.S., obviously. The people that are going to come out and see these
matches are going to see some quality volleyball and a couple of
international powerhouses going at it. It should be good.”

Last year, Team USA posted a record of 20-9 and finished fourth at the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The men, ranked No. 5 in the world to
start the 2005 season, showed glimpses of its potential to return to the
upper echelon of the volleyball world last season, posting wins over three
of the top four teams in the world (No. 1 Brazil, No. 3 Serbia and
Montenegro and No. 4 Russia—twice).

The United States won Olympic gold medals in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in
Seoul and earned the bronze medal in 1992 in Barcelona.

The Dutch, who finished tied for ninth at the Athens Olympics, begin the
year ranked No. 11 in the world. The Netherlands captured the gold medal at
the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta after earning a silver medal at the 1992
Olympics.

These two teams met last summer in Athens as the Americans overcame deficits
of 17-12 and 23-19 in the first set and posted a stunning 26-24, 25-20,
25-18 victory to end a nine-match Olympic losing streak. The win helped
propel Team USA to the No. 3 spot in the pool and all the way to the bronze
medal match, where they lost to Russia.

For the Dutch, who defeated 2000 Olympic silver medalist (and eventual 2004
bronze medalist) Russia in five sets in the first match of pool play, the
loss proved to be a key reason they did not advance to the medal round. The
Netherlands then lost to Brazil and Italy before beating Australia in the
final preliminary match and finished fifth in Pool A with a record of 2-3
behind Brazil (4-1), Italy (3-2), USA (3-2) and Russia (3-2).

Following the three-match series, both teams will travel to Seattle, Wash.,
to compete in the Pacific Rim Sports Summit from June 8-12. Teams from
Australia and China will join the Netherlands and the United States in the
four-team tournament at the Qwest Field Event Center

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