The No. 5 U.S. Men’s record falls to 1-1 while No. 17 Puerto Rico, which defeated Egypt on Sunday, improves to 2-0. The U.S. Men will play European zone winner Spain at 3:35 p.m. local time on Tuesday (Monday at 10:30 p.m. PST).

Puerto Rico lost to the United States twice at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship in September and qualified for the World Cup as the tourney’s runner-up. But on Monday, the U.S. blockers could not stop Puerto Rico’s Hector Soto, who was named the Most Important Player of the match after leading all scorers with 29 points on 27 kills and two blocks. Jose Rivera added 14 points on 13 kills and one block.

“It's obviously disappointing that we didn't play with the same sense of urgency as yesterday,” U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “You think we would have learned from previous tournaments that you can't approach games without total intensity. Hopefully we can play better tomorrow.”

Puerto Rico called its victory “historic.” The last time it beat the United States was at the 1977 NORCECA Continental Championship.

“The USA is the only team in NORCECA we haven't had a chance to beat and today we finally did it,” Soto said. “We took advantage of their mistakes and their lack of intensity and we kept a high level and were able to win.”

Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) led the United States for the second-straight match with 16 points on 13 kills, two blocks and one ace. Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) scored nine points on six kills, two blocks and one ace. Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai’i) scored nine points on seven kills and two blocks.

Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) scored six points on five kills and one block. Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) added five points on five kills. David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) tallied four points on three kills and one block. Lloy Ball (Woodburn, Ind.) Tom Hoff (Park Ridge, Ill.) and Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.) each scored two points and Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.) added one.

U.S. libero Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) had 12 digs and 11 “excellent” serve receptions. Puerto Rico led the U.S. Men in kills 55-44 and blocks 12-10. The United States’ team hitting percentage was 23 percent. Puerto Rico’s was 28 percent.

McCutcheon started Priddy and Salmon at outside hitter, Lee and Millar at middle blocker, Stanley at opposite and Ball at setter. Lambourne is the United States’ designated libero for the tournament. However, as Team USA faltered, McCutcheon made lineup changes. Gardner, Hansen and Hoff started the fourth set for Stanley, Ball and Lee. Rooney substituted in each set.

Puerto Rico broke from the gate right away and held an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout of the first set. It increased the lead to four, 16-12 at the second technical timeout.

Trailing 18-13, McCutcheon called a timeout that seemed to spur the U.S. Men, who went on a 4-1 run, including a block and kill from Millar, to cut Puerto Rico’s lead to 19-17. But Puerto Rico kept its two-point lead, increased it to three at 23-20 on Soto’s kill and cruised to the 25-21 set victory.

The U.S. Men took a 5-2 lead in the second set and Puerto Rico Head Coach Carlos Cardona called timeout. Nevertheless, the United States held an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout and a 16-11 edge at the second. Puerto Rico pulled back to within two points at 18-16, but a Priddy kill, and later an ace by Millar put Team USA back up by five at 21-16 and Puerto Rico never recovered.

However Puerto Rico was back on track in the third set and held an 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout. Puerto Rico used a 6-3 run to increase its lead to 14-7 and the United States never recovered as Puerto Rico took the 25-17 set win.

In the fourth set, the U.S. Men trailed 16-13 at the second technical timeout, but a kill from Millar and blocks by Rooney and Ball tied it at 16-16.
The score remained close until it was tied at 20-20. Soto got a kill and Enrique Escalante added a block to give Puerto Rico a two-point lead. The U.S. Men couldn’t hold off the 25-22 Puerto Rico set victory.

The FIVB Men’s World Cup web site is at www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldCup/2007/Men/.

The Japanese World Cup web site is at www.vbworldcup.jp/2007/en.

View the TV schedule on Universal HD here.

2007 FIVB World Cup
U.S. Men’s Roster
(No., Name, Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 Lloy Ball (S, 6-8, Woodburn, Ind., Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne)
2 Sean Rooney (OH, 6-9, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3 Jim Polster (OH, 6-6, Laguna Niguel, Calif., Long Beach State)
4 David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5 Rich Lambourne (L, 6-3, Tustin, Calif., BYU)
8 Reid Priddy (OH, 6-5, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9 Ryan Millar (MB, 6-8, Palmdale, Calif., BYU)
10 Riley Salmon (OH, 6-6, League City, Texas, Pierce College)
12 Tom Hoff (MB, 6-8, Park Ridge, Ill., Long Beach State)
13 Clay Stanley (OPP, 6-9, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Hawai’i)
14 Kevin Hansen (S, 6-5, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford)
15 Gabe Gardner (OPP, 6-9, San Clemente, Calif., Stanford)
Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon
Team Manager: Marv Dunphy
Assistant Coach: Ron Larsen
Assistant Coach: John Speraw
Doctor: Dr. Alex Torres
Technical Coordinator: Jamie Morrison
Medical Support: Aaron Brock
Technical Consultant: Radford Nakamura
Technical Consultant: Charles Sullivan

Standings
Russia 2-0
Puerto Rico 2-0
Bulgaria 2-0
USA 1-1
Tunisia 1-1
Argentina 1-1
Australia 1-1
Japan 1-1
Egypt 0-2
Korea 0-2
*Brazil 0-1
*Spain 0-1
* Denotes current day’s match not included in standings

First Round

Nov. 18 - Matsumoto
USA def. Brazil (28-26, 30-28, 25-20)
Bulgaria def. Spain (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, 25-17)
Puerto Rico def. Egypt (25-17, 25-19, 25-17)
Nov. 18 - Saitama
Australia def. Korea (22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 29-27)
Tunisia def. Japan (22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 16-14)
Russia def. Argentina (25-16, 25-22, 25-17)
Nov. 19 - Matsumoto
Puerto Rico def. USA (25-21, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22)
Bulgaria def. Egypt (25-19 25-18 23-25 25-18)
Brazil vs. Spain
Nov. 19 - Saitama
Russia def. Australia (22-25, 26-28, 10-25)
Argentina def. Tunisia (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23)
Japan def. Korea (25-15, 25-20, 25-21)
Nov. 20 - Matsumoto
Spain vs. USA
Egypt vs. Brazil
Puerto Rico vs. Bulgaria
Nov. 20 - Saitama
Japan vs. Australia
Argentina vs. Korea
Russia vs. Tunisia

Second Round

Nov. 22 - Toyama
USA vs. Bulgaria
Brazil vs. Puerto Rico
Spain vs. Egypt
Nov. 22 - Hiroshima
Australia vs. Tunisia
Korea vs. Russia
Japan vs. Argentina
Nov. 23 - Toyama
Egypt vs. USA
Puerto Rico vs. Spain
Bulgaria vs. Brazil
Nov. 23 - Hiroshima
Argentina vs. Australia
Russia vs. Japan
Tunisia vs. Korea



Third Round

Nov. 25 – Okayama
Tunisia vs. USA
Bulgaria vs. Korea
Brazil vs. Australia
Nov. 25 – Fukuoka
Argentina vs. Puerto Rico
Spain vs. Russia
Japan vs. Egypt
Nov. 26 – Okayama
Korea vs. USA
Australia vs. Bulgaria
Brazil vs. Tunisia
Nov. 26 – Fukuoka
Argentina vs. Spain
Egypt vs. Russia
Japan vs. Puerto Rico
Nov. 27 – Okayama
Australia vs. USA
Bulgaria vs. Tunisia
Brazil vs. Korea
Nov. 27 – Fukuoka
Argentina vs. Egypt
Puerto Rico vs. Russia
Japan vs. Spain

Fourth Round

Nov. 30 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. Brazil
Bulgaria vs. Russia
Japan vs. USA
Nov. 30 – Tokyo B
Puerto Rico vs. Tunisia
Egypt vs. Korea
Australia vs. Spain
Dec. 1 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. USA
Brazil vs. Russia
Japan vs. Bulgaria
Dec. 1 – Tokyo B
Egypt vs. Tunisia
Spain vs. Korea
Australia vs. Puerto Rico
Dec. 2 – Tokyo A
Argentina vs. Bulgaria
Russia vs. USA
Japan vs. Brazil
Dec. 2 – Tokyo B
Spain vs. Tunisia
Korea vs. Puerto Rico
Australia vs. Egypt