Pin-hitter Ryan Barnett stepped up and helped put the United States one win away from a gold medal.
Barnett finished with a match-high 15 kills on a .448 attack percentage as the United States swept Venezuela 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 in the U23 NORCECA Pan American Cup semifinals on Saturday in Guatemala.
The Pepperdine All-American opened the match with a game-high six kills in the opening game and did not commit an attack error until late in the second game. Barnett also had five kills in the final game, including back-to-back kills as part of a 6-2 run to close out the match.
McKendree setter Nate Flayter guided the offense to out-hit Venezuela .376 to .135 highlighted with a match-best .533 attack percentage in the third game.
Along with Barnett, UCLA middle attacker Cameron Thorne finished with 11 kills on a .643 attack percentage. Thorne in the third game led all players with five kills and hit a perfect 1.000.
Ball State outside attacker Patrick Rogers contributed nine kills.
Rogers also helped the United States close out the second game. The United States led Venezuela 20-19 before Rogers had back-to-back kills and then had the game-winning kill to end the 5-1 run.
Carlos Luis Berrios Prieto in the loss led Venezuela with nine kills.
Venezuela entered the semifinals after going undefeated in its three pool-play matches.
The United States with this victory will advance to the gold-medal match on Sunday. The team will play the winner of the other semifinal match between the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The United States played both these teams in pool-play – losing to the Dominican Republic in its tournament opener and then beating Mexico.