U.S. Men Lose 5-Set Pan Am Cup Heartbreaker to Cuba

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 27, 2017) – The U.S. Men’s National Team competing at the Pan American Cup fought hard but came up short against Cuba, falling 24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 15-11 on Thursday at the Pan American Cup in Gatineau, Canada.

The U.S. Men finished third in the pool at 1-2 and will play Puerto Rico (2-1) in Friday’s quarterfinals.

“We wanted to see our team compete and I was proud of the way our guys worked,” U.S. Head Coach Rob Neilson sad. “Hats off to Cuba. That’s a really nice team and we hope to see them again in this tournament.”

Every player on the U.S. roster started at least one set in the match and 11 players scored at least two points or more.

The U.S. led in blocks (11-9) while Cuba led in kills (59-50) and aces (7-6). The U.S. scored 37 points on Cuban errors while committing 33.

“Today, we were just more aggressive from the service line, and just the overall willingness to get in there and compete,” Neilson added. “Again, I’m really proud of our team.”

Neilson started the same seven players he had for the first two matches: Jake Langlois and Brenden Sander at outside hitter, Mitch Stahl and Jeff Jendryk at middle blocker, Arvis Greene at opposite, Jonah Seif at setter and Larry Tuileta at libero.

After holding off a late Cuban surge to win the first set, the U.S. Men fell behind 21-14 in the second. Neilson brought in outside hitter David Wieczorek for Langlois and opposite Kyle Ensing for Greene and the U.S. made a late run before Cuba closed out the set at 25-21.

Neilson left in his starting group with Ensing and Wieczorek to start the third set and later brought in outside hitter Jake Arnitz for Sander before the U.S. dropped the set.

In the fourth set, Neilson made wholesale changes, bringing Greene back in at opposite, leaving Arnitz and Wieczorek at the outsides, bringing in Scott Stadick and Price Jarman at middle blocker and bringing in Evan Enriques at libero. Seif stayed in at setter. Cuba was caught off guard and the United States jumped out to a 20-13 lead and held on for the win.

The only change Neilson made for the fifth set was bringing in Michel Saeta for Seif at setter. Cuba took an 8-6 lead and increased it to 12-8. The U.S. Men closed it to 12-10 behind Saeta’s serving, but Cuba pulled away for the victory.

Greene, Sander, Wieczorek and Seif led the U.S. in scoring with nine points each. Stahl and Jendryk each added eight points.

U.S. Starters vs. Cuba
Outside hitters: Jake Langlois and Brenden Sander
Middle blockers: Mitch Stahl and Jeff Jendryk
Opposite: Arvis Greene
Setter: Jonah Seif
Libero: Larry Tuileta

U.S. Statistics vs. Cuba
Kills: Greene 8, Wieczorek 8, Sander 8, Jendryk 8, Seif 4, Ensing 3, Stahl 3, Stadick 3, Jarman 3, Langlois 2
Blocks: Seif 4, Stahl 3, Stadick 1, Wieczorek 1, Greene 1, Arnitz 1
Aces: Stahl 2, Jarman 1, Arnitz 1, Seif 1, Sander 1
Digs: Enriques 1, Stahl 1

U.S. Roster for the Men’s Pan American Cup
Gatineau, Canada

No. Name (Pos., Height, Hometown, College)
2. Price Jarman (MB, 6-9, Las Vegas, N.Y., BYU)
3. Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-7, Chambersburg, Pa., UCLA)
4. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
7. Arvis Greene (Opp, 6-7, Los Angeles, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
8. Brenden Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
9. Jake Langlois (MB, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
11. C Jonah Seif (S, 6-6, Thousand Oaks, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
13 Jake Arnitz (OH, 6-7, Yorba Linda, Calif., UCLA)
14. Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State)
15. David Wieczorek (OH, 6-8, Chicago, Ill., Pepperdine)
20. Scott Stadick (MB, 7-0, Watertown, Wis., UC Irvine)
21. Michael Saeta (S, 6-5, Pasadena, Calif., UC Irvine)
23. Larry Tuileta (L, 6-2, Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii)
25. Evan Enriques (L, 6-2, Punalu’u, Hawaii, Stanford)

Head Coach: Rob Neilson
Team Manager: Brian Failinger
Assistant Coach: Joaquin Acosta
Assistant Coach: Jordan Cheng
Therapist/Trainer: Brett Biedermann
Technical Coordinator: Brian Failinger

Schedule for Men’s Pan American Cup
Gatineau, Canada (All times ET)

July 25
Argentina def Puerto Rico, 25-20, 25-14, 25-17
Cuba def Dominican Republic, 25-17, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22
United States def Mexico, 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18
Canada def Venezuela, 25-17, 25-27, 25-15, 25-22

July 26
Dominican Republic def United States, 25-14, 25-12, 25-19
Argentina def Venezuela, 25-17, 25-18, 28-26
Cuba def Mexico, 25-15, 25-18, 25-15
Puerto Rico def Canada, 25-21, 25-16, 25-22

July 27
Dominican Republic defMexico, 25-23, 17-25, 25-17, 25-18
Puerto Rico def Venezuela, 25-19, 17-25, 25-17, 25-27, 16-14
Cuba def United States, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 15-11
Argentina def Canada, 27-25, 25-23, 25-11

July 28: Quarterfinals
5 p.m. Canada vs Dominican Republic
7 p.m. USA vs Puerto Rico

July 29: Semifinals and Classification
July 30: Finals

Year by Year Podiums 

Medal Standings