USA finishes second in pool C moving into Quarterfinals

COLIMA, Mexico, June 18, 2019.- United States moves into the Men’s Pan American Cup quarterfinals finishing second in pool C after beating Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) at the Multifunctional Auditorium of Colima, Mexico.

The U.S. had an overall solid performance winning an important match keeping them alive in their aspirations of reaching the finals. USA end pool-play with 2-1 record, behind first place Chile (3-0) in pool C.

USA waits for the full day results to find out their opponent in Wednesday’s quarterfinals; Dominicans play for placing matches (7/10).

United States prevailed with impressive 13 aces against 5 from Dominican Republic; they also led in kills 39-35 and blocks 9-3. United States committed more errors (16-14) than Dominicans.  

Opposite Kyle Russell scored a match-high of 16 points on 13 kills and 3 aces; Colton Cowell joined in with 11 points on 7 kills and 3 aces, and Samuel Holt added 10 points. Hector Cruz led Dominican Republic with 15 points including 11 kills and 3 aces, while Henry Tapia chipped in with 12 points including 11 kills and one ace.

Comments:

Kyle Russell, top scorer United States: “It was a great balance back after yesterday’s tough loss to Chile; we regrouped really nicely to play USA volleyball. Dominican Republic is a physical team; you can’t take them lightly, just as every team in this tournament. We served and passed real well today, maybe our passing was a little shaky but we were able to keep it on our side of the net”.

Milan Zarkovic, coach United States: “We made some adjustments that gave result; this is a good message for our organization and our volleyball because they showed better quality and have a chance to compete against with the strongest teams here”.

Alexander Gutiérrez, coach Dominican Republic: “We were aware of the difficulty of this match, United States serves really well, their blocking is very high and they have players with average 1.98, in contrast from us. Losing like we did is satisfying, we gave them a hard time, we worked well our serves and we responded to their tactical performance”.