USA advances to championship final at Pan Am Cup

GATINEAU, Canada, June 17, 2011 – The full team concept continued to pay dividends for the United States on Friday as they defeated Puerto Rico 25-18, 25-17, 25-14 in the championship semifinal at the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament.

The USA plays the winner of the Canada-Brazil semifinal later Friday while Puerto Rico will play the loser of that match for the bronze.

Eleven of the 12 players (minus the Libero) put their name on the scoresheet for the Americans, the three-time defending champions.  Jayson Jablonsky and William Price were the top marksmen for the USA with 10 points each. Puerto Rico’s Ulises Maldonado and Ezequiel Cruz scored 10 points apiece.

 ‘’The strength is our total team effort,’’ said USA head coach Gordon Mayforth.  ‘’They are easy to coach because they remind each other to keep focused. Our transition game was very strong tonight and we wanted to win the rallies.’’

‘’We had a bit of slow start,’’ said USA captain Robert Tarr.  ‘’But we kept on about each other to stay consistent and pass the ball well.’’

‘’We knew we were playing a good team and their serves were like bombs,’’ said Puerto Rico’s captain Edgardo Goas.  ‘’There were some things we could have done better and we hoped we learned from that.’’

‘’Being exposed to this level of play is great for our young team,’’ added Puerto Rico’s head coach Ariel Diaz.  ‘’Sometimes we had some good rallies but the USA capitalized on our mistakes.’’