The Soviet Union women's volleyball team, showing the confidence gained from its surprise 1988 Olympic gold medal performance, humbled the United States Friday night in the Goodwill Games.
The Soviets, exploiting U.S. serving and net errors, won in three straight games 15-5, 15-8 and 16-14.The United States stopped the Soviets four times at match point in the third game, but the outcome of the match was never in doubt.
Irina Smirnova led the Soviets with 24 spike kills, while playmaker Valentina Ogienko had 11 good passes and six good digs and Irina Parkhomchuk, veteran of the '88 Olympic team, had 26 set assists.
"They don't change much over the years," said U.S. Coach Terry Liskevych. "They play high and hard."
Caren Kemner, who played for the University of Arizona, led the United States with 19 spike kills, and Lori Endicott, formerly of the University of Nebraska, had 35 set assists.
But even Kemner, with two ace serves, had numerous serving errors.
"We missed 18 serves," Liskevych said. "That's atrotious."
But he was pleased with the rally in game three.
"When you're trying to beat a team that's No. 1 or No. 2 in the world, you've got to play that way from the beginning to the end," he said.
Soviet coach Nikolai Karpol said the U.S. squad may lack poise but is "a very able team."
"Obviously the Russian ladies were able to put things together better tonight," he said through an interpreter.
Earlier Friday, the favored Chinese defeated Peru in four games, Brazil whipped Canada in three games and Japan stopped Cuba's spunky but error-prone B team in four games.
Cuba was the early favorite before choosing to leave its national team at home to prepare for the world championships next month in China.
Ana Moser, a player for Brazil, said she found the atmosphere in Spokane good for concentrating on the competition.
"It's good we're far from Seattle," she said. "It's very peaceful and quiet here. We can eat, sleep and prepare mentally. Our coach won't let us go out anyway."
The volleyball competition resumes Sunday, with the Soviets playing Brazil, the Americans facing Canada, Peru vs. Japan and Cuba vs. China.