Pepperdine Alum Kevin Barnett Makes His Second Straight Men's Volleyball Olympic Roster
7/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
July 12, 2004
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Pepperdine alumni Kevin Barnett is one 12 athletes named to the 2004 U.S. Men's Volleyball Olympic Team, USA Volleyball announced today. He is the lone Pepperdine Wave to make the roster.
USA Volleyball nominated the following 12 athletes to the U.S. Men's Olympic Team pending certification by the United States Olympic Committee:
Setters-Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) and Donald Suxho (Korce, Albania); Middle Blockers-Phil Eatherton (Glencoe, Mo.), Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) and Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.); Outside Hitters-Kevin Barnett (Naperville, Ill.), Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.), Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) and Riley Salmon (League City, Texas); Opposites-Brook Billings (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii); and Libero-Erik Sullivan (Encinitas, Calif.).
Veteran head coach Doug Beal, who guided the men to an Olympic gold medal in 1984, will be taking a record-tying third team to the Olympics in Athens, Greece, next month.
Barnett enjoyed a successful career in Malibu where he was an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Second-Team All-American and Asics/Volleyball Third-Team All-American in 1997 as an outside hitter. Furthermore, he led the team with 575 kills along with a .367 hitting percentage and added 154 digs, 95 blocks and 48 aces. Barnett posted double-figure kills in all 26 matches, and 20 or more kills on 17 occasions.
Team USA, which qualified for Athens by winning the NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in January, is currently 14-4 on the season and ranked No. 6 in the world. It recently won the USA Global Challenge in Austin, Texas, by defeating No. 5 Russia, the silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games, in five sets on July 5.
A mixture of experience and youth make up the 12-player roster for the USA men, led by team captain Ball, a three-time Olympian who was also a starter on the 1996 and 2000 squads.
Four other players will be playing in their second Olympics in Athens: Barnett, Hoff, Millar and Sullivan. Each was a member of the 2000 Olympic team.
The remaining seven players will all be making their first Olympic appearances in Greece: Billings, Eatherton, Gardner, Priddy, Salmon, Stanley and Suxho.
For the men's Olympic indoor volleyball competition, which starts on Aug. 15, Pool A consists of Argentina, France, Greece, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro and Tunisia, while Pool B features Australia, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and the USA.
The USA men have a tough draw for the preliminary round. Team USA starts off on Aug. 15 against the world's second-ranked team, Italy, which captured the bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games. The men will then play the Netherlands (Aug. 17), 2000 silver medalist Russia (Aug. 19), Australia (Aug. 21) and Brazil (Aug. 23), the world's No. 1-ranked team, to close out pool play.
Olympians by College
USC (2): Brook Billings; Donald Suxho
Ball State (1): Phil Eatherton
BYU (1): Ryan Millar
Hawaii (1): Clay Stanley
IPFW (1): Lloy Ball
Long Beach State (1): Tom Hoff
Loyola Marymount (1): Reid Priddy
Pepperdine (1): Kevin Barnett
Pierce College (1): Riley Salmon
Stanford (1): Gabe Gardner
UCLA (1): Erik Sullivan
