homepage

 

 

Argentina beats USA to advance to Semfinals

 

   

RENO, USA (Aug. 14, 2015) – Argentina advanced to the semifinals of the Pan American Cup with a 25-21, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23 win over the United States on Friday at the Reno Events Center.

 

Argentina (3-0) won Pool B and will advance straight to Sunday’s semifinals. The U.S. (2-1) finished third in Pool B and will play Canada (2-1) in the 7 p.m. quarterfinal on Saturday.

 

The U.S. team has only been practicing together a short time and Argentina took advantage of its weaknesses, particularly in passing. Argentina led in spikes (54-49) and scored on 37 U.S. errors while committing 22.

 

The U.S. led in blocks (14-5) and aces (7-3). Argentina had a hitting efficiency of .287 while the United States’ was .252.

 

Argentina outside hitter Lisandro Zanotti led his team with 16 points on 15 spikes and one block. Opposite Federico Martina added 11 points on nine spikes and two blocks.

 

U.S. outside hitter Greg Petty led all scorers with 15 attacks and a match-high four aces. Outside hitter AJ Nally totaled 11 points on eight spikes and one ace. Middle blocker Jeff Jendryk and setter Jonah Seif each had three blocks for the U.S.

 

After winning the first two sets, Argentina led 19-14 in the third. The U.S. got a 4-0 run to pull to within one point. Argentina reached match point at 24-22, but had a serving error followed by a hitting error to tie the score. A block from Seif followed by another Argentina error gave the U.S. the win.

 

The fourth set was tied at 21-21 when the U.S. had a serving error and net violation to put Argentina up 23-21. Petty got his final spike of the night to pull to within one. But Argentina came back with a kill. Argentina’s serving error gave the U.S. its final point before Argentina’s kill ended the match.

 

Argentina Head Coach Martin Ariel Lopez

“It was a tough because we both we’re looking for first place in the pool. We knew that we had an advantage of the number of sets won and we were patient in the match to let it flow and develop into what we wanted. I’m happy because everyone has been developing and I was able to use the bench. Even in losing the third set we maintained a rhythm. We wanted to reach the semifinals and we’re there.”

 

Argentina Captain Demian Gonzalez

“We feel good physically. We achieved our objective to advance to the next round. We used the bench which was great for us so we can save our starters for the next match.”

 

U.S. Head Coach Jeff Nygaard

“We learned a couple of things; we have the physical ability to compete at this level and have success. The thing we need is consistency of that physicality. We played a team that was exceptionally skilled and intelligent and they had the physicality when they needed it, they had great ball control, we just gave up some runs. The lack of team experience showed, and they took advantage of it.”

 

U.S. Captain AJ Nally

“We’re getting there. Is going to be really good when we finally click. They were a really good team. They put pressure on us but I like how we fought back. It was great. We gave them some energy, some new looks with new players that came in and we did a good job. It’s going to be scary when we start clicking.”