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Opposite Gabi Garcia delivered his best performance to put the United States in the Pan American Cup gold-medal match.
Garcia finished with a tournament-high 22 kills on a .400 attack percentage as the United States defeated Cuba 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11 in the Pan American Cup semifinals on Saturday in the Dominican Republic.
The former BYU All-American had a combined 11 kills in the final two games, including a game-high nine kills in the fourth game. Garcia in the decisive fifth game did not commit an attack error and had a kill to cap off a 4-2 run midway through the game that gave the United States a lead it would not relinquish.
Former Ball State setter Quinn Isaacson guided the offense to out-hit Cuba .336 to .302. The United States also had a match-best .615 attack percentage in the fifth game to clinch a spot in the gold-medal match.
Both UCLA pin-hitter Cooper Robinson and former Michael Marshman had a game-high three kills in the fifth game. Robinson ended the match with seven kills, including having the match-winning kill.
Garcia, Marshman and Robinson were among the five U.S. players to have at least five kills.
Former UCLA outside attacker Ethan Champlin contributed 12 kills against Cuba. Marshman had eight kills, while former CSUN middle attacker Daniel Wetter had eight kills and zero errors on a .667 attack percentage.
Wetter also had a match-high six blocks with three blocks coming the third-game victory.
Former Long Beach State libero Mason Briggs led all players defensively with 21 digs and had at least five digs in three of the five games.
Pin-hitter Carlos Yoandrys Charles Santana in the loss had a team-high 17 kills. Charles was one of three Cuban players with double-digit kills in the team’s first loss of the tournament.
The United States with this victory will advance to play Canada in the gold-medal match on Sunday.
Canada defeated Puerto Rico in four games in its semifinal match on Saturday.