Aug. 30, 2001

Beijing, China - Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) could not have picked a better night to have his best performance as his team- leading 17 kills propelled the USA Men's Volleyball Team past Russia in straight sets (25-19, 28-26, 26-24) and into Thursday's gold medal match of the 2001 Summer World University Games.

The USA turned in another all around solid performance Wednesday and improved their overall tournament record to six wins and no losses. This was the second consecutive match in which the USA has not lost a game. In fact they have only lost three games in the entire tournament (USA has won eighteen games and lost only three). As a team the USA posted 45 kills, a .380 hitting percentage, seven blocks, six service aces and 25 digs.

Toppel, who led the team with 17 kills also posted a .640 hitting percentage and four digs. "I think that we gave a really good effort tonight," said Toppel. "We had to play our hardest. Medals were in our sights. We knew that if we won this we were guaranteed a medal. That was just in the back of my mind and I was just going to try to give my all tonight."

Wednesday's semifinal victory over Russia at Beijing's Capital Gymnasium guaranteed at least a tie for the best U.S. finish ever at the Summer World University Games. Team USA will try to win their first ever Summer World University Games gold medal in men's volleyball when they meet France in Thursday's final, which is scheduled to begin at 20:30 at the Capital Gymnasium.