2001 Summer World University Games
USA Men's Volleyball Team Defeats France 3-1 To Win The Gold Medal
At The 2001 World University Games

Thursday, August 30, 2001

USA Men's Volleyball Team Defeats France 3-1 To Win The Gold Medal At The
2001 World University Games

BEIJING, CHINA - The USA Men's Volleyball Team made history tonight by
winning their first ever World University Games gold medal with a three
games to one victory over France (26-28, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21) at the 21st
Summer World University Games. It was fitting that the gold medal match,
attended by 14,500 spectators at the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing, ended on
a great defensive stuff block by Mac Wilson (Palmdale, California/Brigham
Young University) as defense has been the team's cornerstone since the
beginning of this tournament.
The USA won the gold medal match in much the same way as they won every
match of this tournament, with exceptional defense and contributions from
the entire team. The 2001 USA Summer World University Games Men's Volleyball
Team will forever be remembered as the first team to win the gold medal in
the men's volleyball competition of the World University Games for the
United States of America. This is only the second ever World University
Games medal of any color for the USA. The best previous finish for the USA
in men's volleyball came ten years ago with a silver medal at the 1991
Summer World University Games in Sheffield, England. France started off the
match with the upper hand and won the first game 28-26, but the USA used
their defense to turn the momentum and capture the next three games, the
match, and the gold medal.

On the tremendous defensive effort shown by his team tonight and throughout
the tournament Nieves added, "We came into the
tournament feeling that our defense was the strength of the team,
that we could score points while we were serving. We felt the
best part of our defense was our blocking, players like Mac Wilson
who control the net and have the ability to slow down the
other teams attack. We also got good serving throughout the
tournament which makes blocking easier. We also dug the ball
well. Jim Polster had a tremendous defensive effort digging many important
balls for us tonight."

The USA turned in another all around exceptional performance tonight and
finished the tournament with an overall tournament record to seven wins and
no losses. For the tournament, the USA won 21 games and lost only four. In
tonight's gold medal match with France, the USA posted 59 kills, a .390
hitting percentage, 15 blocks, four service aces, and 33 digs. There is an
old saying in sports that offense wins games, but defense wins
championships. Team USA has epitomized this saying throughout this
tournament as they have used great defense to set up their explosive
offense. The tremendous defensive play tonight of Jim
Polster (Laguna Niguel, California/Long Beach State University)
characterized the team's approach to this tournament. Polster
had an amazing 17 digs to lead the team tonight. He also had seven kills, a
.420 hitting percentage, two blocks, and three service aces. Polster's digs
were crucial to the team's success as they gave the USA a chance to set up
and use their offensive weapons.
Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, California/Stanford University) led the team
in kills for a second consecutive night with 20. Toppel had a .460 hitting
percentage, three blocks, and three digs. David McKienzie (Littleton,
Colorado/Long Beach State University) recorded 10 kills of his own along
with one service ace, and one dig. Mac Wison, who ended the game with a
stuff block, posted 9 kills, a .570 hitting percentage, three blocks, and
three digs. Setter and Team Captain Chris Seiffert (Laguna Niguel,
California/Long Beach State University) led the team in blocks with six. He
also had seven kills, a .670 hitting percentage, and one dig. Colin McMillan
(Burlington, Wisconsin/Ohio State University) pitched in six kills, a ..450
hitting percentage, one block, and three digs. Libero Andy Rivera (Los
Angeles, California/University of California, Santa Barbara) had four digs.

"This tournament was a very, very tremendous team effort," said Mac Wilson,
member of the reigning 2001 NCAA National Champion BYU Cougars Men's
Volleyball Team. "Within the two and a half months we were together, we
pulled together as well as any team I have ever played on. It was just
incredible how well the coaches did and how well the players did in uniting
their efforts. This is something that I will remember very fondly for the
rest of my life because of the unity of the team and the coaches."

On winning the gold medal Jim Polster stated, "I can't believe it! I've
never won anything before and this is just too much. It's
great! It hasn't sunk in yet. This is truly remarkable. I love it. This
match exemplified how we played the whole tournament. Our
block and defense came through again and earned us our medal."

Curt Toppel concurred, "I don't know what to say. I'm pretty much
overwhelmed by this whole feeling right now. The entire
team has always said 'we were going to save what we've got to the end.'
Everyone put in a really good effort tonight.
Everyone really brought it together and that is what we needed to do to win
tonight. We did that and we've got gold medals to
show for it."

Starters for Team USA in tonight's match were outside hitter Curt Toppel,
outside hitter Jim Polster, middle blocker Mac Wilson, middle blocker Colin
McMillan, outside hitter David McKienzie, setter Chris Seiffert, and libero
Andy Rivera. Also seeing action were Keith Barnett and Chris Gisslen.

2001 World University Games
Beijing, China - August 22-30, 2001
(Final Numerical Roster As of 8-28-01)

No. Name Position Ht. (ft.) University Hometown
1 Curt Toppel OPP 6'9" Stanford University Pacific Palisades, Calif
2 Andy Rivera L 6'2" University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.
4 Jim Polster OH 6'6" Long Beach State University Laguna Niguel,Calif
5 Mac Wilson MB 6'9" Brigham Young University (BYU) Palmdale, Calif
6 Colin McMillan MB 6'11" Ohio State University Burlington, Wisconsin
9 Scott Wong OH 6'5" Pepperdine University Pearl City, Hawaii
10 Chris Gisslen S 6'6" Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne , Red Wing, Minn
11 David McKienzie OH 6'4" Long Beach State University Littleton, Col
12 Pieter Olree OH 6'6" Ohio State University Reading, Pennsylvania
14 Paul Fasshauer MB 6'8" Ball State University Hoffman Estates, Ill
15 Keith Barnett S 6'3" Pepperdine University Hermosa Beach, Calif
16 Chris Seiffert S 6'3" Long Beach State University Laguna Niguel, Ca

Staff:
Head Coach: Ruben Nieves - Head Coach, Stanford University (1991-2001)
Assistant Coach: Gordon Mayforth - Head Coach, Loyola University, Chi
Assistant Coach: Jeff Stork - Assistant Coach, Pepperdine University
Team Leader: Mark Pavlik - Head Coach, Penn State University

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