[ VOLLEYBALL ]
5 with island ties
make OlympicsAh Mow-Santos, Tom, Bown, Berg
and Stanley named to U.S. volleyball teams
Hawaii will have even stronger than usual Olympic volleyball connections next month in Athens.
Three athletes who played high school or college volleyball here and another whose father was a local sports star were named yesterday to the U.S. women's team, and Clay Stanley, a Kaiser High and University of Hawaii graduate, made the men's team.
Former UH standouts Heather Bown and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, a McKinley graduate, were named to the team for the second time.
"She's pretty elated," said Skip Bown, Heather's father. "She's especially happy because it's a better team this time."
The U.S. was fourth in the 2000 Games in Australia.
Punahou graduate Lindsey Berg, a setter like Ah Mow-Santos, joins the team for her first Olympics.
Logan Tom, whose father, Mel Tom, was a basketball standout at Maryknoll, will play in her second Olympics.
Bown, Ah Mow-Santos, Berg and Tom are in Bangkok, Thailand, playing the World Grand Prix. Bown scored 13 points and Ah Mow-Santos dished out 34 assists as the U.S. beat Korea 3-0 yesterday.
Stanley's father, Jon, played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic team and is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame. His mother, Sandra Haine, played pro volleyball for the Denver Comets.
The women's team is shooting for its first Olympic gold. Led by star outside hitter Tom and veteran middle blocker Danielle Scott, the United States qualified for the Athens Games by taking third in last year's World Cup. They'll arrive in Greece as the second-ranked team in the world -- behind China, its first pool-play foe on Aug. 14.
"Hopefully we peak at the right time," Scott said. "The gold is very realistic for us."
The 12-player men's and women's teams are subject to approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Neither team has medaled since 1992, when each earned a bronze in Barcelona.
Outside hitter Tara Cross-Battle, libero Stacy Sykora join middle blocker Bown, Ah Mow-Santos, Tom and Scott as six returners from 2000. Cross-Battle will be the first player in USA Volleyball history to compete in four Olympics, and Scott is headed to her third.
Men's coach Doug Beal, who guided the Americans to a gold in 1984, brought five players back from his 2000 team: setter and captain Lloy Ball; libero Erik Sullivan; middle blockers Tom Hoff and Ryan Millar; and outside hitter Kevin Barnett.
Ball, a starter in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, was going to retire from the national team, but decided to return after two years off following Sydney.
The men, who lost all five matches in a disastrous, injury-influenced performance at the Sydney Games, are currently ranked No. 6 in the world and will play No. 2 Italy when pool play begins in Athens on Aug. 15.
"I think we have a good team and every reason to believe we can fight for a medal," Beal said. "I don't think the tournament in 2000 is going to have an impact. Every year's kind of a new game."
The women's squad, coached by Toshi Yoshida, also includes middle blocker Wiz Bachman; opposites Tayyiba Haneef and Nancy Metcalf; and outside hitters Keba Phipps and Ogonna Nnamani.
The rest of the men's team includes setter Donald Suxho; middle blocker Phil Eatherton; outside hitters Gabe Gardner, Reid Priddy and Riley Salmon; and opposites Brook Billings and Stanley.
Athens 2004 Olympic Games
www.athens2004.com