Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost the second match in Olympic tournament pool play Monday, but they're not panicking yet.
"We've won pools maybe 10 times in our careers," said Gibb, a Bountiful native, after the duo lost to Poland's No. 9 ranked team of Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel 21-17, 21-18 at the Horse Guards Parade center. "This isn't the craziest thing that has ever happened to us. We're going to be fine."
Tough serving by the Polish squad led to passing troubles for Gibb and Rosenthal. That made their offense less efficient and less effective.
Poland also took advantage of nine U.S. team errors while committing only five.
"That's a really great team," said Gibb. "They're young and they're just really good."
While Poland was able to balance their attack between Prudel (14 kills) and Fijalek (13 kills), the U.S. was not. Rosenthal earned a match-high 20 kills, but Gibb added only five.
Poland also outblocked the U.S. 6-4, with three of those coming from Gibb.
"They made some big adjustments from the last time we played them (in Rome this year)," said Gibb. "Their right-sider, Fijalek, played a great game. He sided-out great. He was really crisp with all his shots and you've got to hand it to them."
Gibb and Rosenthal are seeded No. 4 in the tournament and are now 1-1 in Pool D. They play again on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. (MDT). In that match, they will face Latvia's No. 16 ranked squad of Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins (2-0), the team that gave Poland its only loss.
The first round of single elimination play will begin on Friday.
The other U.S. team, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, will play Spain's No. 11 ranked team Tuesday at 2 p.m. (MDT).
email: adonaldson@desnews.com