Zach Upp Leads U.S. Men's Sitting Team Past Canada at 2025 PVPA Zonal

Zach Upp readies his serve — Zach Upp by Brian Livergood

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 25, 2025) – Led by 30 points from outside hitter Zach Upp, the U.S. Men’s Sitting National Team earned another win at the 2025 ParaVolley Pan America Zonal Championship with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 33-35, 25-16) victory over Canada.

The U.S. Men (2-0), ranked No. 8 in the world, will play fifth-ranked Brazil (2-0) on Monday, May 26, at 3 p.m. MT/2 p.m. PT in a battle of undefeated teams. Admission to the ParaVolley Pan America Zonal Championship is free for all spectators at the Colorado Convention Center. Watch the Zonals livestream.

Upp recorded match-highs of 22 kills and seven aces, adding one block, to finish with his 30 points. He posted 18 points over the final two sets.

Three other U.S. players reached double digits in points with middle blocker Rod Green totaling 17 points on 12 kills, four blocks and an ace. Outside hitter James Stuck recorded 11 kills and a block for 12 points, while fellow outside Jason Roberts posted eight kills and three aces.

Eric Duda registered seven kills and three blocks, and setter John Kremer finished with six kills and two aces. Ben Aman had a kill, and Nick Dadgostar was a stalwart at libero.

“I think we’ve done pretty well in both of our matches,” Upp said. “We came out swinging this time, and it was really nice to see. I think we came in with a much better attitude [than yesterday]. We knew we could beat them (Canada); not that we didn’t know we could beat Argentina, but it was the first time on the court for a lot of our newer players in an international tournament yesterday. This time around, it was getting some of our more experienced players on the court.”

Four players scored four or five points to lead a balanced U.S. attack in the opening set. As in the first set, the U.S. Men led for most of the second set with Upp leading the way with four kills and four aces.

Canada used a 6-1 run to take a 21-15 lead in the third set before the U.S. ran off five consecutive points. Canada fought off eight match points before scoring the final three points of the set to take the set 35-33 in spite of Upp’s nine kills.

Upp said the team kept a positive attitude after losing the tight third set.

“Recently as a team, we’ve become a lot better at bringing each other together and bringing ourselves up,” he said. “We’ve been trying to bring the energy up, and I think we did a great job this time around. We knew we could do it.”

The U.S. jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the fourth set and extended the lead to 10 points, 19-9, on a Roberts kill. Canada ran off the next four points but could not get any closer than six points. Upp tallied six points in the set with Green adding two kills and two blocks.

The U.S. statistically dominated Canada in kills (67-45) and aces (13-5), but Canada finished with a large margin in blocks (18-9).

Men’s Roster

No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown)
2 Dan Regan (OH, 6-0, St. Louis, Mo.)
3 Nick Dadgostar (L, 6-0, Sidney, Neb.)
4 Ben Aman (OH, 6-5, Edmond, Okla.)
5 Eric Duda (S/OH, 6-5, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
6 Alex Wilson (OPP/OH, 6-6, Saugerties, N.Y.)
7 Robbie Gaupp(OH, 6-4, Gatesville, Texas)
8 James Stuck (S/OH, 6-5, New Kensington, Pa.)
10 Robbie Onusko(OH, 6-0, Daytona Beach, Fla.)
11 Roderick Green (MB, 6-3, West Monroe, La.)
14 John Kremer (L, 5-9, Buford, Ga.)
17 Zach Upp (OH, 6-5, Bartlett, Ill.)
20 Jason Roberts (OH, 6-3, Moncks Corner, S.C.)
22 Brett Parks(OH, 6-0, Miami, Fla.)
23 Will Curtis (S/L, 6-0, Cumberland, Maine)