USA Advances to Quarterfinals Defeating Cuba

LEÓN, Guanajuato, August 28, 2025. – The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the 18th Senior Men’s Pan American Cup after defeating Cuba 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17) at the Domo de la Feria in León, Guanajuato.

The U.S. team closed the preliminary round with a 2-1 record to secure second place in Pool A and a spot in the next phase. Cuba, with a 1-2 record, finished third and will play for classification.

The United States came out strong in the opening set, jumping to a 5-0 lead and then 10-5, powered by the offense of Nolan Flexen, Kyle Hobus, and Daniel Wetter.

In the second set, Cuba responded with the efforts of Víctor Andreu and Carlos Charles. After a 20-point tie, U.S. errors gave the Caribbean team the advantage to even the match.

The third set was the most tightly contested, with both teams battling point by point. With the score tied at 19, the United States pulled ahead 23-19 thanks to a Cuban error and two blocks by Wetter against Yusniel González. Cuba fought back with attacks from Andreu, a serve from Thiago Suárez, and Endriel Pedroso’s offense to tie at 24. However, a block by Isaiah Preuitt against Pedroso and a Cuban error returned the advantage to the U.S., who took a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth set, the United States dominated from the start, opening a six-point lead (14-8) and maintaining control until the end. Ryan Barnett applied service pressure in the final stretch, and an attack from Parker Van Buren, followed by two Cuban errors, sealed the victory.

The United States held the advantage in attacks (43-39), blocks (11-6), and aces (9-4). Cuba committed one fewer error (36-37).

Nolan Flexen led all scorers with 18 points (16 attacks, 2 aces), followed by Ryan Barnett with 11 (6 attacks, 2 blocks, 3 aces). For Cuba, Víctor Andreu tallied 13 points (11 attacks, 2 blocks), while Yusniel González added 12 (10 attacks, 2 blocks).

Parker Van Buren spoke about what USA did to overcome Cuba: “We kept them on their feet with a lot of service pressure, I think that was the main thing. Our passers did a great job of fighting off their service pressure and our servers, particularly Ryan Barnett, did a fantastic job getting them out of system and acing them, and putting very fast balls on them. Maybe Cuba was a little uneasy coming off from a loss, while we came off of a win”.

Ryan Barnett said about the pressure he put on Cuba in the final stretch of the game “I just focused on hitting my serves in. It was great. Going into this game was playing our version of volleyball, the USA volleyball way. We will continue focused on ourselves in the next round”.