Follow
A frantic comeback from Canada dashed the gold medal hopes for the United States.
The United States blew a two-game lead as it lost to the host nation Canada 22-25, 21-25, 29-27, 25-23, 15-12 in the Pan American Cup semifinals on Saturday.
Former Ball State setter Quinn Isaacson despite the loss guided the United States to out-hit Canada .456 to .376. In addition, both the United States and Canada had four players finish with double-digit kills.
Opposite Jake Hanes led all players with 22 kills on a .349 attack percentage against Canada. The former Ohio State opposite now enters the final day of the tournament second among all players with 77 combined kills throughout the international event.
Ohio State outside attacker Jacob Pasteur had 19 kills and hit .471, while Ball State outside attacker Kaleb Jenness added 10 kills on a .450 attack percentage. Former Hawai’i middle attacker Patrick Gasman also had 10 kills on a team-best .527 attack percentage.
Outside attacker Brodie Hofer led Canada with 18 kills to help the team advance to the gold-medal match against Cuba.
The United States committed 23 service errors in the loss – six more service errors than Canada.
The United States will still have an opportunity to finish the Pan American Cup on the medal podium as it will play Chile in the bronze-medal match on Sunday.
Chile suffered a three-game loss to Cuba in its semifinal match on Saturday.
This will be the second meeting between Chile and the United States in the last five days. The United States limited Chile to less than a .100 attack percentage in a sweep during the tournament’s group-play stage on Wednesday.