U.S. Women Start 2024 Pan Am Cup with Sweep of Chile

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 18, 2024) –The U.S. Women’s National Team began the 2024 NORCECA Pan American Cup with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-18) win over Chile on Sunday in Irapuato in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.

The U.S. Women return to play on Monday, Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. PT against Puerto Rico, which opened the tournament with an exciting five-set victory over Cuba.

MATCH STATISTICS (PDF)

The U.S. led in kills (35-29) and blocks (9-5), while benefitting from 29 Chile errors and making only 11 errors. The U.S. hit .260 for the match, while error-plagued Chile hit just .033. Each team served two aces, but Chile finished with three more service errors.

“This was a great match for us,” Head Coach Brad Rostratter said. “It was great to see some women make their debuts and have some awesome performances. Overall, it was good to see the team take care of business, nice and clean serving and hitting and playing USA Volleyball.”

Seven U.S. players scored at least four points with outside hitter Logan Eggleston and opposite Samantha Samedy combining for 19 points. Eggleston scored 10 points on nine kills and a block, and Samedy totaled nine points on eight kills and a block, adding nine digs. Eggleston led the team with 10 successful receptions and contributed seven digs.

“It was good to go out there and compete, get those first-match jitters out; to come out and battle to start the tournament,” Samedy said.

In addition to leading the U.S. to a .260 hitting efficiency, setter Ella Powell scored six points on three kills, two blocks and an ace, and paced the team with 12 digs. Setter Jenna Gray played as a subsitute. Libero and Tokyo Olympian in beach volleyball Sara Sponcil recorded 10 digs and eight successful receptions. Outside hitter Jaali Winters contributed nine successful receptions and five kills.

Middle blockers Amber Igiede and Breland Morrissette joined Powell with two kills apiece. Igiede scored four points in the opening set with her two blocks, a block and an ace. Morrissette totaled five points in the final two sets, recording three kills to go with her blocks. Middle blocker Tia Jimerson scored four points on three kills and a block and opposite Kendall Kipp, who played as part of the double substitution, recorded three kills.

Igiede’s block and ace gave the U.S. the first three-point lead of the opening set, 10-7, and lead to a Chile timeout. From there, the U.S. scored seven of the next nine points to take control of the set. The U.S. hit .308 in the set, while Chile only hit .059.

Chile led 10-9 early in the second set before a 6-0 U.S. run, keyed by a pair of Eggleston kills and a Powell block. Chile scored three consecutive points to close the gap back to two, 15-13, but a Powell block and Samedy kill extended the advantage back to four points and led to a Chile timeout. The U.S. tallied the first five points after the time out to take a 10-point lead. Eggleston led all players with five kills with Morrissette adding two kills and two blocks.

An Eggleston kill completed a 4-0 run that gave the U.S. a 10-6 lead in the third set. Chile was not able to get any closer than three points down the remainder of the set. Samedy paced the U.S. with four kills with Eggleston adding three points on two kills and a block.

U.S. Women’s Roster for the 2024 NORCECA Pan American Cup
4 Logan Eggleston (OH, 6-2, Brentwood, Tenn., Univ. of Texas, Southern)
5 Kendall Kipp (Opp, 6-6, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
6 Serena Gray (MB, 6-3, Temple City, Calif., Pitt, Southern California)
7 Claire Hoffman (OH, 6-2, Pleasant Hill, Ore., Univ. of Washington, Columbia Empire)
8 Amber Igiede (MB, 6-3, Baton Rouge, La., Univ. of Hawaii, Delta)
9 Tia Jimerson (MB, 6-3, Sugar Hill, Ga., Ohio University, Southern)
12 Breland Morrissette (MB, 6-1, Birmingham, Ala., Georgia Tech, Southern)
13 Ella Powell (S, 6-0, Fayetteville, Ark., Univ. of Washington, Delta)
14 Sarah Sponcil (L, 5-10, Phoenix, Ariz., UCLA, Arizona)
15 Jaali Winters (OH, 6-3, Ankeny, Iowa, Creighton, Iowa)
17 Zoe Fleck (L, 5-6, Grenada Hills, Calif., Univ. of Texas, Southern California)
19 Jenna Gray (S, 6-1, Shawnee, Kan., Stanford Univ., Heart of America)
31C Roni Jones-Perry (OH, 6-0, West Jordan, Utah, BYU, Intermountain)
34 Stephanie Samedy (Opp, 6-2, Clermont, Fla., Univ. of Minnesota, Florida)

Head Coach: Brad Rostratter
Assistant Coach: Jonathan Charette
2nd Assistant Coach: Tayyiba Haneef-Park
Team Manager: James Lundgren
Physiotherapist: Cherryl-Marie Bueno
Statistician: Peter Wong

U.S. Women’s Schedule for the Pan American Cup
(All times PT)
Matches will be livestreamed on Federación Mexicana de Voleibol Facebook page.

Aug. 18: USA def. Chile, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-18)
Aug. 19: USA vs. Puerto Rico, 7 p.m.
Aug. 20: USA vs. Cuba, 7 p.m.
Aug. 21: USA vs. Costa Rica, 1 p.m.
Aug. 22: USA vs. Argentina, 4 p.m.
Aug. 23: Quarterfinals and classification
Aug. 24: Semifinals and classification
Aug. 25: Medal matches