The U.S. Men (3-0) complete pool play without dropping a set to win Pool A. They will have Wednesday off and play the winner of the match between Mexico and Canada on Thursday at 8 p.m. (because the United States is hosting the tournament, it will play all matches at 8 p.m.).

Puerto Rico (2-1) finishes second in Pool A and will face the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) led the U.S. Men with 19 points on 16 kills, one block and two aces. Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) chipped in 13 points on 10 kills, two aces and a block. Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored nine points on six kills, two blocks and one ace. Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) scored six points on kills. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) contributed three points, Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) had two and setter Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) had one.

Ball set the U.S. offense to a 53-kill percent and 0.407 attack percentage. Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) provided four digs and 14 “excellent” service receptions on 22 attempts.

Puerto Rico’s Hector Soto led all scorers with 20 points on 17 kills, two blocks and one ace. Jose Rivera scored eight points, all on kills and Victor Rivera added six points on five kills and one block.

U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) started Ball at setter, Millar and Lee at middle blocker, Priddy and Salmon at outside hitter, Stanley at opposite and Lambourne at libero. Hoff subbed into the match in the second set and started the third set in place of Lee.

The two teams battled back and forth early in the first set with the United States holding an 8-6 advantage at the first timeout, including two points on consecutive aces by Priddy, first to the opposite left corner, and then to the opposite right. Coming out of the timeout, Millar served an ace of his own and the U.S. Men led 9-6. Lee’s quick kill gave the United States a four-point lead and Puerto Rico never got closer.

Puerto Rico opened the second set with a 4-1 run and held an 8-6 lead at the first timeout. Soto scored five of Puerto Rico’s eight points. With Puerto Rico leading 12-10, Soto got the serve on a kill, then combined another kill and an ace to give Puerto Rico the 15-10 lead before Priddy ended the run with a kill.

The U.S. Men fought their way back behind Priddy and Stanley and eventually tied the score at 20-20. The two teams alternated scoring until it was tied at 24-24. Puerto Rico got the lead when the United States was called for being in the net but Team USA tied it again on Priddy’s kill. Puerto Rico then misplayed a pass to fall behind 25-26 and the United States took the set victory on another Priddy kill.

The third set was never in doubt as the U.S. Men held an 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout and a 16-10 lead at the second.

“Nobody likes to lose,” Puerto Rico Head Coach Carlos Cardona said via an interpreter. “But over the tournament, we are getting better and better.”

Priddy said it took the U.S. Men some time to adjust to Puerto Rico’s strengths.

“Between last night (against Barbados) and tonight, the opponents were pretty different,” he said. “I like that we were down in the second set and came back and held off set point.”

The top two finishers at the NORCECA Continental Championship will qualify for the 2007 FIVB World Cup (Nov. 18-Dec. 2) in Japan. The top three finishers at the World Cup qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The statistics for this match and all NORCECA Men’s Championship matches are available for download at www.usavolleyball.org/National/NORCECA07_stats.asp.

Tickets for the 2007 NORCECA Men's Continental Championship are available via Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com/search?tm_link=tm_header_search&keyword=NORCECA) or call 714-740-2000. For group sales, go to www.aegtickets.com or call 877-AEG-TICKETS. Tickets are also available at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena box office.

USA Volleyball web site for the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship can be found at http://www.usavolleyball.org/National/NORCECA07.asp. The tournament central page contains all the latest news, results and photos for the tournament.

2007 NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship Schedule (All times PDT)

Pool A Standings
United States 3-0
Puerto Rico 2-1
Mexico 1-2
Barbados 0-3

Group A: Barbados, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States
Sept. 16: Puerto Rico def. Barbados 25-16, 15-17, 25-16
Sept. 16: United States def. Mexico 25-11, 25-15, 25-20
Sept. 17: Puerto Rico def. Mexico 25-15, 25-18, 25-20
Sept. 17: United States def. Barbados 25-13, 25-13, 25-4
Sept. 18: Mexico def. Barbados 25-14, 25-18, 18-25, 25-22
Sept. 18: USA def. Puerto Rico 25-19, 27-25, 25-18

Pool B Standings
Cuba 3-0
Canada 2-1
Dominican Republic 1-2
Trinidad & Tobago 0-3

Group B: Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago
Sept. 16: Cuba def. Trinidad & Tobago 25-13, 25-16, 25-19
Sept. 16: Canada def. Dominican Republic 25-21, 25-23, 25-20
Sept. 17: Canada def. Trinidad & Tobago 25-14, 25-14, 25-10
Sept. 17: Cuba def. Dominican Republic 25-13, 25-17, 25-17
Sept. 18: Dominican Republic def. Trinidad & Tobago 25-15, 25-20, 25-16
Sept. 18: Cuba def. Canada 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18

Quarterfinals
Sept. 19 (Match 13): Puerto Rico (2A) vs. Dominican Republic (3B), 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 19 (Match 14): Mexico (3A) vs. Canada (2B), 8 p.m.

Classification Round 5
Sept. 20 (Match 15): Trinidad & Tobago (4B) vs. Loser of Match 13, 12:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 (Match 16): Barbados (4A) vs. Loser of Match 14, 2:30 p.m.

Semifinals
Sept. 20 (Match 17): USA (1A) vs. Winner of Match 14, 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 (Match 18): Cuba (1B) vs. Winner of Match 13, 8 p.m.

Classification 7/8
Sept. 21 (Match 19): Loser of Match 15 vs. Loser of Match 16, 12:30 p.m.

Classification 5/6
Sept. 21 (Match 20): Winner of Match 15 vs. Winner of Match 16, 2:30 p.m.

Finals
Sept. 21 (Match 21): Loser of Match 17 vs. Loser of Match 18, 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 (Match 22): Winner of Match 17 vs. Winner of Match 18