U.S. Men Fall to Cuba in NORCECA Final

The U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team fell to Cuba in the gold medal match of the NORCECA Continental Championship on Saturday, 1-3 (21-25, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25) in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Cuba (5-0), which won its 14th NORCECA title in 21 years of the tournament, qualifies for the Grand Champions Cup in November in Japan. The U.S. Men finished with a record of 4-1.

Evan Patak (Pleasanton, Calif.) led the U.S. Men with 14 points on 14 kills. Patak was also named Best Server of the tournament as he finished with 10 aces.

Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) added 12 points on 10 kills and two blocks. Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) scored 12 points on 11 kills and one block.

Andrew Hein (Carol Stream, Ill.) totaled 10 points on eight kills and two blocks. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) finished with five points on three kills and two blocks.

“It is an early wake-up call for us,” U.S. Team Captain Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) said. “We didn’t play as good as we can. Cuba showed discipline and they came in focused on winning the tournament.”

Young Wilfredo Leon, 17, paced Cuba with 24 points on 23 kills and one block. He was also named the tournament MVP, Best Spiker and Rising Star. Michael Sanchez scored 19 points on 16 kills and three blocks. Cuba Head Coach Orlando Samuels received the “Jim Coleman Award” as the best coach.

The U.S. offense struggled at times on Saturday as Team USA completed 46 of 102 kill attempts (45 percent) with 17 errors. Priddy led the way, completing 10 of 20 attempts with three errors. Rooney completed 11 of 24 attempts with one error.

Cuba completed 62 of 120 kill attempts (52 percent) with 13 errors.

Cuba out-blocked Team USA 11-7 and had three aces while the United States had none.

The United States was credited with 41 excellent receptions on 71 attempts (54 percent) with three faults. Rooney was 12 of 21 (57 percent) with no faults. Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) was 11 of 21 (48 percent) with one fault. Priddy was 12 of 22 (45 percent) with two faults.

Cuba was credited with 52 excellent receptions on 79 attempts (65 percent) with one fault.

Team USA finished with 22 digs and 43 faults. Lambourne was credited with 12 and six faults.

Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.) was credited with 28 running sets and no faults on 80 attempts.

U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe (Huntington Beach, Calif.) started Priddy and Rooney at outside hitter, Hein and Lee at middle blocker, Patak at opposite, Hansen at setter and Lambourne at libero. Hoff, Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) and Paul Lotman (Lakewood, Calif.) played as substitutes.