Argentina downs USA to reach Men’s Pan American Cup semifinals

COLIMA, Mexico, June 19, 2019. - Argentina downed United States 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22) to reach the semifinals of the fourteenth edition of the Men’s Pan American Cup in the Multifunctional Auditorium of Colima, Mexico.

Argentina is set to play the semifinals against hosts Mexico, no matter the result of the other quarterfinal between Chile and Puerto Rico as they shared the same pool with Cuba, the other semifinalists in the competition. United States will play for fifth place.

Argentina struggled to finish sets one and three, missing three set points in the first and (24-21) and two match points in the third (24-20). Argentina reached the semifinals with huge 10-4 advantage in blocking while the U.S. held a 37-35 margin in attacks. Both teams scored 3 points on aces; Argentina scored on 27 U.S. and handed out 23.

Opposite German Johansen with 11 points topped Argentina, followed by middle blocker Joaquin Gallego with 10 points, including 4 blocking points and captain Nicolas Bruno with 9 points. Colton Cowell led United States with 10 points; in addition middle blocker George Huhmann, outside hitter David Wieczorek and opposite James Shaw tallied 8 points apiece.

Comments:

German Johansen, top scorer Argentina: “We committed more errors than we should have, mostly the first sets were difficult because they performed very well, nevertheless we had a better performance in the third, improving serves and attacks. Argentina’s best feature is team effort; we support one another if someone fails”.

Joshua Tuaniga, captain United States: “I don’t think we played our ball, we didn’t make as many serves as we should have. Argentina played a pretty good game, all-around game, the served tough, they defended well; it was just tough to handle. We got to be better in communication, if we served a little bit better and add offense it would have helped”.

Fabián Muraco, coach Argentina: “We were organized in blocking-defense. Our serves weren’t as good as we expected, in the beginning we had difficulties in receiving because their serves were aggressive, we controlled their attacks, which made the difference”.

Milan Zarkovic, coach United States: “We couldn’t use some of the players that have been responsible in our line-up until now because of some injuries and we tried to find the best combination. At the end of each set we were very close, fighting to win; I would say we came to the spring but we didn’t drink water”.