BEIJING, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A spike by Clayton Stanley finally ended a thrilling match Thursday and kept the United States' men unbeaten in the Olympic volleyball tournament.
The Americans handed Bulgaria its first loss in a match that went four sets, took almost two hours to play and lasted well past midnight.
After losing the marathon opening set 29-27, the United States prevailed in the next three 25-21, 25-14, 26-24.
That gave the Americans a 3-0 record in Group A while Bulgaria, China and Italy are all 2-1. Those four teams will almost certainly advance to the quarterfinals. Venezuela and Japan are winless in the group after China defeated Japan in five sets Thursday and Italy was a straight-set winner over Venezuela.
The United States has had to play the tournament without its head coach, whose father-in-law was murdered and mother-in-law was injured last weekend by an assailant who then committed suicide.
Poland and Russia remain unbeaten in Group B. Poland defeated Serbia 3-1 and Russia was a 3-1 winner over Brazil. Poland and Russia will meet in their final group game Monday.
