COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 30, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s Team competing at the Pan American Cup tried a change in personnel but couldn’t get past Argentina and fell, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 on Thursday in Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico.

The U.S. Men finish pool play 1-2 and finish third. They will play for seventh-10th place.

Argentina, the defending champion, won the pool at 3-0. The top five teams at the Pan American Cup qualify for the 2019 Pan American Games.

The U.S. Men led Argentina in kills (35-34) while Argentina led in blocks (6-5) and aces (3-2). The U.S. Men were hurt by 32 scoring errors while Argentina committed 14.

“They made us play more than we made them play,” U.S. setter Jonah Seif said. “We missed a lot of serves, and the ones we did get in weren’t where we wanted them, so their side-out was very easy for them.”

After the U.S. lost the first set, Head Coach David Hunt put setter James Shaw in at opposite for Kyle Russell. Shaw finished with nine points on eight kills and one ace.

“James is our match MVP,” Hunt said. “He came in off the bench and did really well. He gave us a spark.”

Outside hitter Kupono Fey led all scorers with 14 points on a match-high 11 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitter Jake Arnitz added six points on five kills and one block.

“We had streaks where we played really good volleyball,” Hunt said. “But we struggled to give ourselves chances to maintain that.”

Hunt said the team wouldn’t let the loss hold it down.

“The goal is the same as it is every match; to learn and continued to get better,” Hunt said. “These guys are here to get better and gain valuable match experience.”

U.S. STARTERS VS ARGENTINA
Outside hitters: Kupono Fey and Jake Arnitz
Middle blockers: Mitch Stahl and Price Jarman
Opposite: Kyle Russell
Setter: Jonah Seif
Libero: Kyle Dagostino
Substitutes: James Shaw (Opp), David Wieczorek (OH), Brendan Schmidt (MB)

U.S. STATISTICS VS ARGENTINA
Kills: Fey 11, Shaw 8, Arnitz 5, Russell 4, Stahl 3, Jarman 2, Seif 2
Blocks: Fey 2, Stahl 1, Arnitz 1, Seif 1
Aces: Shaw 1, Fey 1
Digs: Dagostino 16, Fey 5, Seif 5, Shaw 2, Arnitz 2, Stahl 1, Jarman 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 
Cuba def Chile, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21
Brazil def Dominican Republic, 25-21, 25-19, 25-14
Canada def Colombia, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22
Argentina def Puerto Rico, 20-25, 25-15, 33-31, 25-17
Mexico def Guatemala, 25-18, 25-20, 29-27

August 29
Cuba def Guatemala, 25-16, 25-13, 25-16
Brazil def Colombia, 27-25, 25-17, 25-12
Argentina def Peru, 25-20, 25-22, 25-15
Canada def Dominican Republic, 25-20, 25-20, 25-16
Puerto Rico def United States, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-21
Mexico def Chile, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19

August 30
Puerto Rico def Peru, 25-21, 25-14, 26-24
Chile def Guatemala, 25-18, 25-18, 25-17
Dominican Republic def Colombia, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25
Brazil def Canada, 25-20, 25-15, 25-23
Argentina def United States, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 
Cuba def Mexico, 20-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-12, 18-16