COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 12, 2022) – The U.S. Men’s National Team advanced to the semifinals of the Pan American Cup on Friday with a 3-0 (25-17, 29-27, 26-24) quarterfinal win over Puerto Rico.
Team USA (3-1) will play Canada (3-0) in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday. The match will be shown at youtu.be/JClATxqRNGc. Cuba (3-0) will play Chile (2-2) in the other semifinal. The tournament is a qualifier for the 2023 Pan American Games and helps teams gain points toward their international ranking, which will be a factor in qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The U.S. led in kills (45-39), blocks (10-4) and aces (7-5). Puerto Rico scored on 20 U.S. errors and committed 18.
U.S. Head Coach Andy Read called the U.S. comeback in the second set the key to the victory. Team USA fell behind 8-3 and still trailed at 18-15 when it used a 6-1 run to take the lead.
“We played three solid sets,” Read said. “The second set was the key to the match. We were down by five and then we got them. Turning that set was huge.”
U.S. opposite Jake Hanes finished with 17 points on a match-high 14 kills and a match-high three blocks.
“We stuck with our game plan,” Hanes said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys and they’ve really done a good job of learning a new system and sticking to it.”
Middle blocker Patrick Gasman also scored 17 points on 12 kills, two blocks and three aces.
Outside hitter Jacob Pasteur scored 11 points on 10 kills and one block. Middle blocker Nyherowo Omene totaled 11 points on six kills, two blocks and three aces.
Outside hitter Kaleb Jenness tallied six points on three kills, two blocks and one ace.
Setter Quinn Isaacson helped the team to a .324 hitting efficiency. Libero Mason Briggs finished with 13 digs and eight excellent receptions. Jenness led in receptions with 14.
U.S. Men’s Roster for the Pan American Cup
No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College, Region)
2 Kaleb Jenness (OH, 6-6, Mount Pleasant, S.C., Ball State, Palmetto)
3C James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif. Stanford, Northern California)
7 Jacob Pasteur (OH, 6-4, Westminster, Md., Ohio State Univ., Chesapeake)
9 Jake Hanes (Opp, 6-10, Orland Park, Ill., Ohio State Univ., Great Lakes)
11 Francesco Sani (Opp, 6-8, Bethesda, Md., UC Irvine, Chesapeake)
13 Patrick Gasman (MB, 6-10, Clovis, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
14 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State, Great Lakes)
16 Nyherowo Omene (MB, 6-7, South Holland, Ill., Princeton, Great Lakes)
18 Toby Ezeonu (MB, 6-7, North Brunswick, N.J., Penn State, Garden Empire)
19 Gage Worsley (L, 6-1, Moraga, Calif., Hawaii, Northern California)
21 Mason Briggs (L, 6-0, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
22 Kyle McCauley (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., UC San Diego, Southern California)
24 Brett Wildman (OH, 6-5, Virginia Beach, Va., Penn State, Old Dominion)
26 Merrick McHenry (MB, 6-7, Bedford, Texas, UCLA, North Texas)
Head Coach: Andy Read
Assistant Coach: Ron Larsen
Assistant Coach: Rory Prager
Team Leader/Performance Analyst: AJ Ruttenberg
Athletic Trainer: Benjamin Colletti
U.S. Men’s Schedule for the Pan American Cup
All Times Pacific Daylight
Aug. 9
USA def Dominican Republic, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-23)
Aug. 10
USA def Chile, 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-14)
Aug. 11
Cuba def. USA, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19)
Aug. 12
Quarterfinals
Chile def Mexico, 3-2 (17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 24-26, 16-14)
USA def Puerto Rico, 3-0 (25-17, 29-27, 26-24)
Aug. 13
Fifth-place bracket
8:30 a.m. Brazil vs Puerto Rico
11 a.m. Dominican Republic vs Mexico
Semifinals
2 p.m. Cuba vs Chile
4:30 p.m. Canada vs USA
Aug. 14
6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. classification matches
11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. bronze and gold medal matches