The Croatians reeled off five points in a row after trailing 5-2 in the third set tie-break to move ahead once more, only for the Russians to storm back and take the match to a decider.
Meteorologists had warned about particularly nasty weather Friday but said the storm's fury didn't match that of a deadly twister that struck suburban Moore last week.
But with almost all of Iraq's major cities under coalition control, it would take a major twist in the coalition's fortunes to match the toll of Desert Storm.