BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : U.S. Manages to Win by a Hair Again : Men’s volleyball: Americans struggle for third time before coming away with five-game victory over Spain.

BARCELONA â€”  The U.S. men’s volleyball team, obviously fond of close shaves, had another one here Thursday, its fourth in five days.

This one was a five-game struggle over Spain, won in the fifth, 15-11, when Steve Timmons sent a thundering spike to the floor, and into the heart, of a courageous, but ultimately outmanned, team.

The scores were 15-6, 14-16, 12-15, 15-10, 15-11, and it marked the third consecutive match in which the highly regarded gold medalists of 1984 and 1988 were stretched to the maximum.

They beat the Japanese in five games Sunday, then had the decision reversed when the international ruling body of volleyball decided that a controversial call against American Bob Samuelson on match point was not properly called by the official. Then on Tuesday, the U nited States barely got into the win column in Pool A of the Olympic tournament when it barely hung on against Canada.

In between the Japanese and Canadian matches, the U.S. men decided, in joint protest of the ruling against the bald Samuelson, to shave their heads.

So, taking the court at the Vall d’Hebron to represent the United States in volleyball was a group of grown men who looked like bowling pins and who fell down a lot throughout the match.

In the first game, despite playing badly, the United States easily handled a stiff and nervous Spanish team, which is improving on the international scene under its respected coach, Gilberto Herrera, and which had never before qualified for an Olympic volleyball tournament. Spain received its berth because it is the host country.

But with the Spaniards loosening up considerably in the next two games, exciting the partisan crowd in the cozy 3,500-seat arena, an upset of international-level embarrassment for U.S. volleyball was shaping up.

And until the veteran Timmons took over on most key points from 8-8 of the fourth game until he slammed home his clincher on match point of the fifth, the U.S. position in the pool setup here was in grave jeopardy. Four of the six teams in each pool advance to the medal round, which then becomes a seeded, eight-team bracket. But the seeding is established by the pool play, and because the United States is aiming to emerge from Pool A as the second-seeded entry behind current world champion Italy, a loss to Spain would have virtually ruined that plan.

“I think we are just about to run out of lives.� Timmons said.

One thing this team is not running out of is affection for the rally-scoring format that is being used in fifth games of all matches for the first time in the Olympics. This changes the rules so that points are scored each time the ball is put in play, rather than just by the serving team.

“Every time we get to a fifth game,� Samuelson said, “we just seem to feel like it is ours.�

That was the case again Thursday. Unfortunately for the U.S., the close shaves they did on their heads seem to be working on the strength of their game much as that haircut once worked on a fellow named Samson.

It has provided comic relief, though.

“My wife (Jeanne Buss) had heard the rumor that we were going to do it,� Timmons said. “So when I walked into the room, with a hat on, she took one look at me and said, ‘Tell me you didn’t do it.’ Then I pulled the hat up and she kind of groaned and said, ‘Oh, honey. . . . ‘ “

Groans were appropriate for most of the U.S. performance Thursday. But once again, the U.S. survived, by a razor-thin margin.