BEIJING - The final kill had barely slammed into the floor before Ryan Millar had his arms triumphantly in the air, rejoicing at the sight of the American flags in the crowd and wondering if this might finally be the time that everything works out.

"We're playing great volleyball - at a great time to play great volleyball," he said.

Certainly, there's no better time to play your best than when the consequence of losing is "the next flight home," as the former Brigham Young player and coach put it. And judging by the way Millar and the rest of the U.S. men's team delayed their departure from the Beijing Olympics by dramatically rallying to beat Serbia 20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 15-12 in the quarterfinals at Capital Gymnasium on Wednesday night, there was reason to suspect that something special might be cooking with this group as it heads into the semifinals against Russia.

"There's just a different feeling on this team," Millar said.

Different from the 2004 Athens Games, he meant, when Millar and the Americans - who now also include fellow former Cougar Rich Lambourne - similarly won a five-set match to reach the semifinals, only to lose two straight matches and miss out on a medal.

But it might also apply to the way the team seemingly has grown since the opening weekend of the tournament, when the parents of coach Hugh McCutcheon's wife - Todd and Barbara Bachman - were attacked at an ancient tourist attraction. Todd Bachman was killed, and Barbara Bachman was seriously injured and remains hospitalized in the United States.

Even as McCutcheon left the team for several days to attend to his family, though, the Americans scarcely blinked, stretching their winning streak to nine matches, perhaps now buoyed by an extra motivation and the recent return of their coach.

"If something special does happen in the end here, it will be a great tribute to what they did" for volleyball, Millar said. "I would already think that, just what we've accomplished already, they're pretty happy with what we're doing, because we're playing our hearts out for them, you know what I mean? When you play your hearts out for someone else and yourself, it seems like it's a lot. But we have a lot to give."

That showed, against Serbia.

Down 7-3 in the final set, the Americans borrowed the comeback playbook that Logan Tom and the women's team have been using. After McCutcheon - also a former Cougar player and coach - called a timeout, they passionately outscored the Serbians 12-5, roaring in celebration with every kill and furiously pumping their fists with every thunderous block, seven of which belonged to Millar.

"There's a tendency, when things are a little bit tight, that you want to make a great play," McCutcheon said. "We don't need great, we just need lots and lots of good. So we just had to settle down and get back into it."

Outside hitter Riley Salmon slammed down his 12th kill for the final score, and the Americans immediately erupted. Millar was exalting toward the crowd while several teammates posed for the row of photographers lined up courtside. Lambourne was soon standing on a speaker to reach family members and fans sitting in the stands.

"When you spend a couple of hours trying to contain that, and finally get the result you want, it kind of explodes a little bit," Lambourne said.

The comeback left the Serbians stunned, just as the Italians were shocked by Tom and the American women coming back to beat them on the same court the previous night. Both teams were eliminated with the losses, while the Americans moved within one win of a medal.

The men have not won one of those since the 1992 Barcelona Games, and did not even win a match at the 2000 Sydney Games, where Millar made his debut.

So while McCutcheon acknowledged that he's coping as best he can with his family's tragedy, Millar explained what's making him feel hopeful about making his third trip to the Olympics a little more satisfying than the others.

"There's just a little bit of a different vibe," Millar said. "I think this team just meshes and gels, especially when we're in the heat of battle, pretty well. It just seems like we have a little bit of a different vibe together as a collective group of guys. It's been working so far; hopefully, it will continue. . . .This is a group that never says die."