Men's Sitting Team Moves to 1-1 at ParaVolley Pan American Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 10, 2023) – The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team improved to 1-1 at the ParaVolley Pan American Championship with a 3-1 (28-26, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23) win over Canada Wednesday in Edmonton, Alberta.

The U.S. Men bounced back after losing to Brazil in their first match on Tuesday. The team finishes pool play on Thursday with a 1 p.m. PT match against Argentina. After that, all four teams in the competition (USA, Brazil, Canada and Argentina) meet in the semifinals on Friday. The winner of the championship earns a berth to the 2024 Paralympics.

Match Statistics (PDF)

The U.S. trailed for most of the first set in Wednesday’s match and were down by six at 20-14. After a timeout, the U.S. Men slowly worked their way back behind tough serving from captain Rod Green. Suddenly up by only two at 20-18, Canada took a timeout to regroup and quickly increased its lead to 22-18. The U.S. kept chipping away, but Canada had three set points at 24-21. Chris Seilkop served three consecutive points to tie it at 24-24, and the two teams kept up the fight until the U.S. came away with the comeback 28-26 win.

“We had good stretches of things,” head coach Greg Walker said. “We just took a little bit getting into it. We prepared really well for Canada, and they played incredibly well in our last series in Dallas. We were really prepared for them to come out firing. Their ball control has gotten so much better, so for us [it’s about] staying in the rallies, and not being one and done on a swing. I felt it was a really good learning experience for us.”

Set two was also a seesaw battle. Canada kept the early lead, but at 10-10, the U.S. scored five straight points to take what looked like a solid lead. But Canada stormed back to go ahead 18-17. At 19-19, Eric Duda went back to serve and helped the U.S. to four straight points for a 23-19 margin. That turned out to be enough as the U.S. went on to win 25-22.

Canada kept itself in the hunt with a 25-20 win in set three and a commanding 11-3 lead early in set four. Bit by bit the U.S. kept coming back though, and reeled off five straight points to get within one at 13-12. The teams traded points until the U.S. finally put the match away at 25-22 after another strong serve by Duda.

Walker said one of his biggest takeaways is how the team performed under pressure.

“We had to dig out of some big holes,” he said. “Being able to chip at it, especially in certain rotations, was really important for us. The biggest thing for us is how much we can stay and focus and carry on. Our biggest common theme is if we can take care of our side then we are going to be fine. Some of our ball handling wasn’t as crisp as it usually is, and Canada put that pressure on whenever they got those big leads.”

Duda led the team in scoring with 16 points on 14 kills and two aces. Three players scored 13 points: James Stuck (10 kills and three blocks), Green (10 kills, two blocks, one ace) and Zach Upp (13 kills). Seilkop had three kills, one block and ace; and Patrick Young came off the bench for two kills and two blocks. Ben Aman got on the board with a kill and a block, and setter John Kremer collected two kills.

Watch all matches, including the May 11 matchup with Argentina at 1 p.m. PT, live on YouTube.

U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Roster
No Name (Position, Height, Hometown, Region)
1 Travis Ricks (L, 5-7, San Diego, Calif., Southern California)
2 Dan Regan (OH, 6-0, St. Louis, Gateway)
3 Nicholas Dadgostar (L, 6-0, Sidney, Neb., Chesapeake)
4 Ben Aman (OH, 6-5, Edmond, Okla., Oklahoma)
5 Eric Duda (S/OH, 6-5, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Florida)
8 James Stuck (S/OH, 6-5, New Kensington, Pa., Keystone)
9 Dandy Wilson  (Opp/OH, Alexandria, Va., Old Dominion)
11 Roderick Green (MB, 6-3, West Monroe, La., Bayou)
12 Patrick Young (OH, 6-4, Albuquerque, N.M., Sun Country)
13 Robbie Gaupp (Opp/OH, Havre De Grace, Md., Chesapeake)
14 John Kremer (L, 5-9, Buford, Ga., Southern)
15 Chris Seilkop (OH, 6-6, Deland, Fla., Florida)
17 Zach Upp (OH, 6-5, Bartlett, Ill., Great Lakes)
49 Sam Surowiec (OH, 6-2, Everett, Wash., Evergreen)

Head Coach: Greg Walker
Assistant Coach: Joe Skinner
Assistant Coach: Julie Allen
Performance Analyst: Sydnie Mabry
Athletic Trainer: Brian Farr
Team Leader: Kyle Homeyer

Men’s Schedule (All time CT)
May 9: Brazil def. USA 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 19-25, 23-25)
May 10: USA def. Canada, 3-1 (28-26, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23)
May 11 at 3 p.m. USA vs Argentina
May 12 at 3 p.m. Semifinal 1
May 12 at 8 p.m. Semifinal 2
May 13 at noon Bronze match
May 13 at 2:30 p.m. Gold match