Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 12, 1990                   TAG: 9005120167
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. VOLLEYBALL TEAM SET TO SERVE IN SALEM

The U.S. team, which finished seventh at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, will meet Japan's national team Monday, June 4 at the Bast Center on the Roanoke College campus in Salem. The first serve is set for 7:30 p.m.

The match, in a best-of-five games format, is the first event for Virginia Amateur Sports, the year-old organization that will hold the first Virginia CorEast State Games in July.

Ken Grosse, marketing director of USA Volleyball in San Diego, called the Roanoke stop "a trial balloon. We're looking for new markets to come into, and we thought Roanoke would be a good place to check out."

Grosse said USA Volleyball's trip here grew out of a conversation with Tom Blue, a Roanoke lawyer who is a U.S. Volleyball Association referee. Blue, who has officiated in the Pan American Games and two U.S. Olympic Festivals, is the State Games coordinator for the sport. He put Grosse in contact with Doug Fonder, the executive director for Virginia Amateur Sports.

Grosse said USA Volleyball also considered playing at Virginia Tech's Cassell Coliseum, but chose Roanoke because of its larger population base. The U.S. women's team will come to Roanoke after matches with Japan in Asheville, N.C., and Greensboro, N.C. Another site to be determined will follow the Roanoke stop, then coach Terry Liskevych's team will finish the tour in Tallahassee, Fla., and Atlanta.

"This is the type of event we'd like to bring in here more often," Fonder said. "I think it's a very positive step for the Roanoke Valley. It's also going to give people an indication of how the world's best play the game, and then be able to compare that with how the top state people are doing in the State Games."

The U.S. women's team won the silver medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. But the team fell apart when coach Arie Selinger resigned and Liskevych, a West German native, took over. Four players - middle blocker Kim Oden, outside hitters Liz Masakayan and Tammy Liley and back-row specialist Liane Sato - remain from the team that played in Seoul.

Japan finished fourth in the '88 Olympics. Grosse said the Japanese women are considered the world's No. 4 team, behind Cuba, the Soviet Union and China.

Tickets for the exhibition will be $8. An announcement on ticket outlets will be made next week, Fonder said.

Grosse said USA Volleyball usually gets a contract for a financial guarantee for a game. But because the squad needed a stop and wanted to test a new market, the organization is paying its expenses and does not have a guarantee for the Bast Center appearance.

Fonder said Virginia Amateur Sports and USA Volleyball will split any profits from the exhibition. VAS is paying Roanoke College $900 to rent the Bast Center.