BEIJING --- Put up a net, put American men in action and watch out. At these Olympics, that's becoming an unbeatable combination.

In volleyball and water polo, the guys in red, white and blue made their country proud Friday.

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers got it started by winning gold in beach volleyball.

Then the U.S. indoor volleyball team continued its surprising, emotional run by beating Russia and advancing to the gold medal match for the first time since 1988.

Next came the fun at the pool. The U.S. water polo team, which came to China ranked ninth in the world, pulled off the latest in a string of upsets, beating Serbia to also reach the gold medal match for the first time since '88.

Dalhausser and Rogers gave the U.S. a sweep in beach volleyball, adding to the gold won by the women.

The two lost their first game of the tournament, but closed things out with a dominating victory over Brazil: 23-21, 17-21, 15-4.

VOLLEYBALL: The Americans played their first three games without coach Hugh McCutcheon, who was with his wife's family after her father was killed and her mother wounded by a knife-wielding attacker during a visit to a Beijing tourist site.

They didn't lose without him. And they haven't lost since he's returned.

By beating Russia 25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13, the U.S. clinched its first medal since bronze in 1992. They will play Sunday against Brazil, which beat Italy in the other semifinal.

WATER POLO: Between Tony Azevedo's scoring and Merrill Moses' goaltending, these guys can't be beat.

After upsetting world No. 1 Croatia to win their group, the U.S. pulled off another shocker with a 10-5 win over Serbia. Azevedo scored three times, with two assists, two steals and two blocks. Merrill stopped 16 shots.

Next up: two-time defending gold medalist Hungary on Sunday. Hungary beat Montenegro 11-9.

TRACK AND FIELD: Bryan Clay won the decathlon, the first American man to win the 10-discipline event at the Olympics since 1996.

The 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2005 world champion, Clay finished with 8,791 points, 240 points ahead of second place.

- The International Olympic Committee officially stripped Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska of her second-place finish in women's heptathlon because of doping. American Hyleas Fountain moved up to second.

GYMNASTICS: Hoping to put a definitive end to a simmering controversy, the International Gymnastics Federation asked China to provide additional documents that prove five of the six team members were old enough to compete at the Games.

The request was made at the urging of the International Olympic Committee, despite China's insistence that its athletes were not underage and the fact that there is no irrefutable proof to the contrary.

"It's not a question of a final decision," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "We simply want the federation to work with the national federation ... to just put to bed once and for all the questions."

The organization didn't set a deadline, but with the Games ending Sunday, the IOC wants to dispel lingering doubts as quickly as possible.

DIVING: China is poised to go 8-for-8 in diving events, with Zhou Luxin leading after the men's 10-meter platform preliminaries.

American teenagers David Boudia and Thomas Finchum were sixth and seventh.

TAEKWONDO: The Lopez family isn't going home with a single gold. But all three family members will bring home a medal.

Steven Lopez fell short in his bid for a third consecutive gold, taking bronze, just like his brother Mark did the day before. Sister Diana got silver.

MODERN PENTATHLON: American Sheila Taormina will have to settle for becoming the first woman to compete in three Olympic sports. In this one, she finished 19th -- one spot ahead of the defending gold medalist.

Taormina was a swimmer at the 1996 Olympics and competitor in the triathlon in 2000 and 2004.

BMX: The U.S. took three of the first six medals ever handed out in this sport, but none was gold.

Mike Day got silver and Donny Robinson the bronze on the men's side. Jill Kintner survived a crash-filled women's main event for bronze.

BASEBALL: What might be the last gold medal in America's national pastime won't be won by the U.S.

The Americans lost 10-2 to Cuba and will play Japan for the bronze today.

CANOE/KAYAK: The Hungarians found a perfect way to remember their former teammate Gyorgy Kolonics -- winning gold, silver and bronze.

Wearing black armbands to remember the two-gold winner who died in his canoe while training for these Olympics, Hungarians won gold in the men's 1,000-meter canoe singles (C-1); silver in the women's 500-meter kayak four (K-4); and bronze in men's 1,000-meter canoe double (C-2).

BOXING: One measly bronze medal is all the U.S. has to show for these Games, its worst performance ever.

Deontay Wilder was the lone medalist. It was his consolation prize after being outclassed and outpointed by amateur heavyweight world champion Clemente Russo, of Italy, in the semifinals.

MEN'S SOCCER: Bronze goes to Brazil, which beat Belgium 3-0.

"In Brazil, there's a lot of pressure about the gold, always winning," goalkeeper Renan said. "We didn't get to the final, but in the end we won the bronze, which is also important."

TABLE TENNIS: As expected, China swept the women's singles, just like it did in 1988.

Zhang Yining got gold, Wang Nan silver and Guo Yue bronze.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: Russia's Evgeniya Kanaeva was second entering Friday's competition but passed teammate and overnight leader Olga Kapranova. The individual finals are today.

WOMEN'S FIELD HOCKEY: The Netherlands beat China 2-0 for its first gold since 1984. The silver is China's first medal in women's field hockey.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: The gold-winning pair of Anastasias are headed toward more hardware. The Russians received a near-perfect score of 49.5 in the technical portion of the team competition, putting them first going into the free routine today.

MEN'S HANDBALL: Iceland beat Spain 36-30, while France defeated reigning Olympic champion Croatia 25-23 in the semifinals.