U.S. Men's Volleyball Team Wins Pan Am Cup

U.S. Men Defeat Dominicans to Win Pan Am Cup

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 11, 2006) – The U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team defeated a tenacious Dominican Republic team 3-1 on Sunday to win the inaugural Pan American Cup in Mexicali, Mexico.

Dave McKienzie (Littleton, Colo.) led the U.S. offense with 15 points – 14 kills and one block – and Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) added 12 – 11 kills and one ace – in the United States’ 17-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 victory.

“It was a tough match. I think Dominican is the most improved team in our zone,” said U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand). “I feel our players performed well. It was another gritty performance with some nice plays at the end of the match. We are very happy to be the inaugural Pan American Cup champions.”

U.S. libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) won the tournament award as best digger. Phil Eatherton (Glencoe, Mo.) also had a good match against the Dominicans with nine points on six kills, two blocks and one ace.

The United States had a difficult time stopping the Dominican Republic’s Jose Caceres, who scored 26 points on 20 kills, three blocks and three aces. The Dominicans had eight aces in the match. But the United States came up with 12 blocks, including four from setter Chris Tamas (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and three from Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) to help cool the Dominican attack.

The U.S. men never led in Game 1, but jumped out to leads of 8-3 and 8-6 in games 2 and 3 respectively. The United States trailed 13-16 and 21-20 in Game 4 before coming up with the victory.

The United States finished the tournament with a 4-0 record. The Dominicans finished 3-3.

For more information on the Pan American Cup, go to http://www.norceca.org/endex.htm.

Source: http://www.usavolleyball.org/VolleyballNews/news.asp?id=1159