COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 28, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s Team opened pool play at the Pan American Cup on Tuesday with a 25-21, 25-14, 26-24 victory over Peru in Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico.
The U.S. Men (1-0) will continue pool play on Wednesday when they will play Puerto Rico at 5 p.m. PT. The match will be shown on FloVolleyball.tv, a subscription service.
The U.S. Men led Peru in kills (41-31), blocks (6-2) and aces (9-1). Peru scored 25 points on U.S. errors while committing 20.
Opposite Kyle Russell led all scorers with 17 points on a match-high 15 kills and two aces. Middle blocker Mitch Stahl added 10 points on a match-high three blocks and five kills and two aces.
Outside hitter David Wieczorek scored six points, including a match-high four aces.
“I think we served really well,” Russell said. “We served and received and that’s the style of volleyball we want to play.”
Peru stayed with the U.S. in the first and third sets, tying the score at 24-24 in the third.
“I wasn’t concerned,” U.S. Head Coach David Hunt said. “We didn’t play perfectly, but we played tough. It was good to have Peru stress us in sets one and three.”
Hunt did hope the U.S. Men could cut down on the errors.
“I think we need to bring that down a bit, especially from the service line,” he said.
Setter James Shaw set the U.S. Men to a .440 hitting efficiency and was credited with 29 running sets.
Libero Kyle Dagostino was credited with six digs and 13 excellent receptions.
U.S. STARTERS VS PERU
Outside hitters: Jake Arnitz and David Wieczorek
Middle blockers: Price Jarman and Mitch Stahl
Opposite: Kyle Russell
Setter: James Shaw
Libero: Kyle Dagostino
Substitutes: Kupono Fey (OH), Matt Pollock (MB), Jonah Seif (S), Matt Pollock (MB)
U.S. STATISTICS VS PERU
Kills: Russell 15, Stahl 5, Shaw 4, Pollock 4, Arnitz 4, Jarman 3, Wieczorek 2
Blocks: Stahl 3, Jarman 2, Arnitz 1
Aces: Wieczorek 4, Stahl 2, Russell 2, Fey 1
Dig: Dagostino 6, Wieczorek 3, Shaw 3, Stahl 3, Russell 2, Jarman 1, Fey 1, Pollock 1
Pan American Cup
Aug. 28-Sept. 2 in Cordova, Mexico
U.S. Men’s Roster
2 Price Jarman (MB, 6-9, Las Vegas, Nev., BYU)
4 Kupono Fey (OH, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Hawaii)
5 James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif., Stanford)
6 Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-7, Chambersburg, Pa., UCLA)
7 Arvis Green (Opp, 6-7, Los Angeles, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
10 Kyle Russell (OH, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine)
11 Ryan Coenen (OH, 6-9, Franklin, Wis., Lewis)
12 Matt Pollock (MB, 6-9, Orland Park, Ill., Pepperdine)
13 Jake Arnitz (OH, 6-7, Yorba Linda, Calif., UCLA)
14 David Wieczorek (Opp, 6-8, Chicago Ill., Pepperdine)
16 Brendan Schmidt (MB, 6-8, O’Fallon, Mo., McKendree)
19 Kyle Dagostino (L 5-9, Tampa, Fla., Stanford)
22 J.T. Hatch (L 6-2, Mesa, Ariz., UCLA)
23 Jonah Seif (S, 6-6, Thousand Oaks, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
Head Coach: David Hunt
Team Manager: Jon Parry
Assistant Coach: John Hawks
Assistant Coach: Greg Walker
Athletic Trainer: Christopher Spalding
Technical Coordinator: Jon Parry
Pool Play Schedule
(All times PT)
August 28
United States def Peru 25-21, 25-14, 26-24
11 a.m. Chile v Cuba
1 p.m. Brazil v Dominican Republic
3 p.m. Canada v Colombia
5 p.m. Argentina v Puerto Rico
7 p.m. Mexico v Guatemala
August 29
9 a.m. Cuba v Guatemala
11 a.m. Colombia v Brazil
1 p.m. Peru v Argentina
3 p.m. Dominican Republic v Canada
5 p.m. Puerto Rico v United States
7 p.m. Mexico v Chile
August 30
9 a.m. Peru v Puerto Rico
11 a.m. Guatemala v Chile
1 p.m. Colombia v Dominican Republic
3 p.m. Brazil v Canada
5 p.m. United States v Argentina
7 p.m. Mexico v Cuba