Two Men's Volleyball Alumni Compete at International Sports Invitational
June 09, 2005 | Men's Volleyball
Eatherton, a four-year letterwinner (1994-97) at BSU, is one of four members from the fourth-place 2004 Olympic squad returning to the national team this summer. With 477 career block assists and 575 career total blocks, Eatherton tops Ball State's all-time lists, while he is second in career hitting percentage (.422). He is also tied for third in school history with 27 matches of 10-or-more kills in a single season (1996).
Denmark, also a four-year letterwinner (2000-03) with the Cardinals, ranks second in career block assists at BSU with 436. Denmark's 1.81 blocks-per-game average during the 2000 season is behind only Brian Hyde's 2.14 average – set in 1984 – for season bests, while his 16 block assists March 3, 2000 at Quincy also ranks behind Hyde (19) for second place in individual match records.
Ball State placed the second highest number of players on the 2005 USA men's national roster behind only Long Beach State's five athletes, while BYU, Hawaii, LIU-Southampton, Ohio State, Pacific, Pierce, Stanford and USC each positioned one player on the team.
Team USA, led by first-year head coach Hugh McCutcheon, will square-off with teams from Australia, China and the Netherlands in a round-robin format during the first three days of competition. The top-seeded team will then compete against the fourth seed, while the second and third seeds will face-off in the semifinal matches on Saturday. Sunday's Third-Place and Championship Matches will be determined by Saturday's results.
2005 International Sports Invitational Schedule
June 8
Australia vs. China, 6 p.m.
USA vs. Netherlands, 8 p.m.
June 9
China vs. Netherlands, 6 p.m.
USA vs. Australia, 8 p.m.
June 10
Netherlands vs. Australia, 6 p.m.
USA vs. China, 8 p.m.
June 11
Semifinal #1, 5 p.m.
Semifinal #2, 7 p.m.
June 12
Third-Place Match, 6 p.m.
Championship Match, 8 p.m.
Note: All Times are Pacific Daylight Time