US Men's Volleyball Capture NORCECA Gold Against Puerto Rico

The U.S. Men finish the tournament with a 5-0 record. Puerto Rico wins the silver medal with a 4-2 record with two losses to Team USA.

With the victory, the U.S. claims an automatic berth into the FIVB World Cup held Nov. 18-Dec. 2 in Japan. The 12-team World Cup field includes the five continental champions, the four best Continental vice-champions based on the 2007 FIVB World Ranking, host country Japan and two wild cards as chosen by the FIVB and Japan Volleyball Association. The World Cup is the first 2008 Olympics qualifier with the top three teams earning an automatic bid.

The U.S. is ranked fifth in the world by the FIVB, while Puerto Rico is 17th and the fourth highest rated team from NORCECA.

U.S. setter Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and also won the Best Setter award, finishing with 115 running sets and 196 still sets with six faults for a 6.76 average per set. Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) was named the Best Server with eight aces, 39 serve hits and 15 faults on 62 attempts for an average of 0.47 aces per set.

Puerto Rico team captain Hector Soto was named the tournament’s Best Scorer, finishing with 104 points on 94 spikes, five blocks and five aces. Puerto Rico’s Victor Rivera was named the Best Spiker with a 47.73 efficiency percentage.

U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon won the inaugural Jim Coleman Award as the tournament’s most outstanding coach.

The other award winners were Canada’s Murray Grapentine (Best Blocker) and Chris Wolfenden (Best Digger) and the Dominican Republic’s Elvis Daverson Contreras (Best Receiver) and Amaury Eduardo Martinez (Best Libero).

Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) led the U.S. scoring attack in Friday’s match with 16 points on 16 kills. Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) and Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) each added 15 points. Priddy scored on 14 kills and one block and Stanley tallied 13 kills, one block and one ace. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) compiled 12 points on seven kills and a match-high five blocks. Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored 10 points on nine kills and one block.

Ball scored three points on two blocks and an ace and Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.) scored two points on kills. Libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) finished with a 68 percent “excellent” ratio on serve receive.

Puerto Rico team captain Hector Soto led all scorers with 19 points on 18 kills and one block. Jose Rivera and Victor Rivera each added 11 points, each with 10 kills and one block. Luis Rodriguez scored eight points on six kills and two aces. Alexis Matias added six points. Enrique Escalante and Victor Bird each scored five, Leonardo E. Aquino scored two and Angel Perez had one.

Libero Gregory Berrios led Puerto Rico with an 82 percent “excellent” rating on serve receive. As a team, Puerto Rico had a 76 percent rating as compared to 65 percent for the U.S. Men.

“They played great. They dig a lot of balls,” Stanley said of Puerto Rico. “They surprised us.”

Soto looked back on what might have been.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “If we hadn’t made so many mistakes, it would have been a better match for us.”

The U.S. maintained a 10-7 advantage in blocks and both teams served two aces. Team USA picked up three points in opponent miscues with a 25-22 margin. Puerto Rico held a 19-13 edge in digs.

McCutcheon started Ball at setter, Stanley at opposite, Priddy and Salmon at outside hitter and Millar and Lee at middle blocker. Lambourne is Team USA's designated libero for the tournament. Gardner subbed into the match in set three and four, while Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.) was a reserve in set three.

The United States secured an early 11-7 lead in the opening set as Salmon scored on two kills, but Puerto Rico chipped away to close to within 13-11. The Americans increased the score to 19-13 with four unanswered points. The U.S. put the spread to seven points at 22-15 and looked to close out the set. However, Puerto Rico put together three straight points to move to within four at 22-18. Team USA responded with two quick points to earn six set points at 24-18. Puerto Rico saved the first two attempts by the U.S. to end the set on an attack by Escalante and a block from Bird, but could not stop the frame at 25-20. Team USA used six blocks to help secure the opening victory.

The U.S. Men gained the first two-point cushion of the second set at 4-2, though Puerto Rico came back to take the lead at 6-5 on a 4-1 scoring spurt. Team USA recovered to take an 8-7 lead into the first technical timeout. Puerto Rico put together a 5-1 scoring run to claim a 14-11 lead. The U.S. answered with consecutive points to close the deficit to one at 14-13. Trailing 16-14 coming out of the second technical timeout, Team USA scored back-to-back points on Salmon kills to tie the set at 16-16. Puerto Rico secured a two-point edge at 19-17 thanks to kills by Jose Rivera and Soto, only to watch the U.S. Men charge back with a 4-1 run to regain the advantage at 21-20. Puerto Rico won the final three points of the second set on an attack by Bird, a block by Jose Rivera and finally a Bird block of Stanley for a 25-23 victory.

Puerto Rico kept the momentum early in the third set by grabbing a 5-2 advantage. The U.S. Men answered with six of the next eight points to take an 8-7 lead into the first technical timeout. After a Puerto Rico point out of the break, Team USA netted three consecutive points for an 11-8 advantage. Team USA pushed its margin to four points at 13-9, but Puerto Rico sliced the gap to one at 17-16. Team USA upped the lead back to four points at 21-17 as part of a 4-1 run. Puerto Rico quickly narrowed the deficit back to two at 21-19.

The teams traded points the rest of the way for a 25-22 U.S. victory. The final point came with a Gardner hit from the right side off of Jose Rivera’s block, ricocheting back off of Gardner's body and dropping on Puerto Rico’s side for the U.S. set victory.

Sideout scoring was the story early in the fourth set until two Salmon kills gave Team USA a 12-11 advantage. Puerto Rico put together two straight points to recover the lead at 13-12. The lead switched three times, but neither team could get momentum. The U.S. picked up the first two-point edge of the fourth set at 21-19 on kills by Salmon and Priddy as part of a 4-1 run. The lead held up as Team USA sided out through the final, 25-23.

The statistics for this match and all NORCECA Men’s Championship matches are available for download at www.usavolleyball.org/National/NORCECA07_stats.asp.

USA Volleyball web site for the NORCECA Men's Continental Championship can be found at www.usavolleyball.org/National/NORCECA07.asp. The tournament central page contains all the latest news, results and photos for the tournament.

Source: http://usavolleyball.org/VolleyballNews/news.asp?id=1933