VOLLEYBALL : U.S. Men Outclass CIS Again

Viacheslav Platonov, coach of the World Cup champion Commonwealth of Independent States, said his players resembled “six telephone poles with numbers” during a loss to the United States men Friday night at San Diego.

The former Soviets weren’t any more animated in a rematch Saturday night at the Forum, losing, 15-11, 15-11, 15-7, before 4,200.

“I knew that people could play badly,” Platonov said through an interpreter, “but I never expected they’d play that badly. I had the impression it wasn’t a (coach) training them; it was a janitor.”

The U.S. is to 8-0 in World League play, the CIS fell to 6-2.

The U.S. team has played together for about seven weeks--four members of the 1988 Olympic champions rejoined the team April 27--and the players say the improvement has been noteworthy.

“We’ve come a long way in a short time,” said Doug Partie, who returned along with Steve Timmons, Jeff Stork and Bob Ctvrtlik. “It looks like we’re going to be in good shape for the Olympics.”

Notes

The U.S. team winds up its World League schedule with two matches against China next weekend at Shanghai, and two against the CIS June 20-21 at St. Petersburg, Russia. . . . Ruben Acosta, president of the International Volleyball Federation, said two-man beach volleyball probably would be a demonstration sport in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta and predicted it would be a medal sport during the 2000 Games.