USA men face
Canada in America’s Cup opener
 Colorado,
USA, August 2, 2005 – Following a successful five-match tour in
Argentina, the USA Men’s national Volleyball team begins play in
the America’s Cup on Wednesday in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil.
The tournament field consists of six teams broken up into two
groups of three teams each. Group A consists of Argentina, 2004
Olympic gold medalist Brazil and Venezuela. Group B features
Canada, Cuba and the United States.
“Those are the top teams in the North and South American zones,”
said Team USA head coach Hugh McCutcheon of the America’s Cup
field. “We are excited to play some quality competition as we
get ready for what we see as our main events of the summer: our
world championship qualifier and the NORCECA Zone Championships.
This is going to be really good preparation for us.”
Team USA will play Canada on Wednesday, Aug. 3, Cuba on
Thursday, Aug. 4 and have a day of rest of Friday, Aug. 5, as
Canada and Cuba square off against each other to close out group
play.
The top two teams in each group following the conclusion of
preliminary play on Friday, Aug. 5 will meet in the tournament
semifinals on Saturday, Aug. 6. The third-place and championship
matches are scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 7.
The Americans are coming off a successful five-match tour in
Argentina from July 22-30.
In the first four matches, the United States was only able to
suit up seven players – setter Chris Tamas; middle blockers
David Lee and Phil Eatherton; outside hitters Pieter Olree and
Riley Salmon; opposite Curt Toppel; and libero Rich Lambourne –
but still won three of the four matches. Team USA had a full
squad for the series finale and posted a 3-1 victory.
Following the America’s Cup, the USA Men will return to Colorado
Springs to train for the 2005 Men’s NORCECA World Championship
Tournament, scheduled for Aug. 22-28 in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
The 2005 Men’s NORCECA Championships are slated for Sept. 10-15
in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. |
