COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 16, 2019) – The U.S. Men’s Pan American Cup Team got off to a strong start, defeating Guatemala 25-10, 25-17, 25-17 on Sunday in Colima, Mexico.
The United States (1-0) will play Chile at 2 p.m. PT on Monday.
“It’s good to start out with a good win,” U.S. opposite James Shaw said. “Obviously there’s a lot of work to do. Our serving and passing were really good in the first set and we need to keep it up, serving especially.”
The U.S. led Guatemala in kills (39-17), blocks (11-3) and aces (5-0). The U.S. scored 20 points on Guatemala’s errors while giving up 24.
The U.S. Men’s hitting efficiency was .500 behind setters Josh Tuaniga, who started the first two sets, and Joe Worsley, who started the third and Jonah Seif, who played as a substitute in the third.
U.S. outside hitters Colton Cowell and Sam Holt led all scorers with nine points apiece. Cowell scored on a match-high seven kills and two aces. Holt scored on five kills, two blocks and two aces.
Shaw added eight points on six kills, one block and one ace.
Libero Kyle Dagostino was credited with seven digs.
“We can do much better because in some parst of the game we were giving away more points than they were earning,” said U.S. Head Coach Milan Zarkovic. “We have a lot of things to do to be better.”
STARTERS FOR U.S. MEN VS GUATEMALA
Outside hitters: Colton Cowell and Sam Holt
Middle blockers: Price Jarman and Brendan Schmidt
Opposite: James Shaw
Setter: Josh Tuaniga
Libero: Kyle Dagostino
Substitutes: Jonah Seif (S), Joe Worsley (S), Dave Wieczorek (OH), Kyle Russell (Opp), George Huhmann (MB), Kupono Fey (L), Cody Kessel (OH)
STATISTICS FOR U.S. MEN VS GUATEMALA
Kills: Cowell 7, Shaw 6, Holt 5, Schmidt 5, Jarman 4, Russell 4, Huhmann 3, Tuaniga 2, Worsley 1, Wieczorek 1, Kessel 1
Blocks: Jarman 3, Holt 2, Schmidt 2, Shaw 1, Kessel 1, Russell 1, Wieczorek 1
Aces: Cowell 2, Holt 2, Shaw 1
Pan American Cup
June 16-21 in Colima, Mexico
2 Price Jarman (MB, 6-9, Las Vegas, Nev., BYU)
3 Jonah Seif (S, 6-6, Thousand Oaks, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
5 James Shaw (Opp, 6-8, Woodside, Calif., Stanford)
7 Joe Worsley (S, 6-1, Moraga, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii)
9 Colton Cowell (OH, 6-2, Makawao, Hawaii, Univ. of Hawaii)
10 Kyle Russell (Opp, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine)
12 Sam Holt (OH, 6-7, Cincinnati, Ohio, Cal State Northridge)
13C Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
14 David Wieczorek (Opp, 6-8, Chicago Ill., Pepperdine)
16 Brendan Schmidt (MB, 6-8, O’Fallon, Mo., McKendree)
17 George Huhmann (MB, 6-11, St. Louis, Mo., Princeton)
19 Kyle Dagostino (L 5-9, Tampa, Fla., Stanford)
22 Kupono Fey (L, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Hawaii)
23 Cody Kessel (OH, 6-5, Colorado Springs, Colo., Princeton)
Head Coach: Milan Zarkovic
Assistant Coach: David Hunt
Assistant Coach Shiari Morteza
Team Manager: Andrew Strick
Physiotherapist: Johnathan Leih
U.S. Schedule for Pan Am Cup (all times CT)
Pool Play
June 16
USA def Guatemala, 25-10, 25-17, 25-17
Chile def Dominican Republic, 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21
June 17
11a Dominican Republic vs Guatemala
4p USA v Chile
June 18
11a Guatemala vs Chile
4p Dominican Republic v USA
June 19
11a Classification 11-12
1p Classification 7-10
4p Classification 7-10
6p Quarterfinal
8p Quarterfinal
June 20
1p 9th-place final
4p 7th-place final
6p Semifinal
8p Semifinal
June 21
4p 5th-place final
6p 3rd-place final
8p Final