The dominant serving run keeps continuing for USC outside attacker Sterling Foley.
Foley finished with a match-high five aces as the United States defeated the host nation Puerto Rico 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21 on Thursday at the NORCECA Final Six.
Foley had at least one ace in all four games to help the United States finish pool-play undefeated and earn the top seed for the semifinals. The outside attacker also had an ace to give the United States a four-point lead early in the fourth game en route to the pool-play victory
This was the consecutive pool-play match that Foley had five aces at the international tournament. Foley concluded pool-play with a tournament-best 12 aces.
The United States finished the match with 13 aces – seven more aces than Puerto Rico.
Seven U.S. players delivered an ace in the victory and the team had five fewer aces than service errors.
Despite the loss, Puerto Rico out-hit the United States .221 to .197. The United States had a .358 attack percentage in its opening-game victory but was then limited to hitting no better than .250 in each of the three final games.
UCLA outside attacker Sean Kelly had a team-high 12 kills on a .346 attack percentage, including a combined nine kills in the first two games. Long Beach State middle attacker Jackson Cryst contributed seven kills and hit a team-best .545.
Former Purdue Fort Wayne outside attacker Pelegrin Vargas led all players with 14 kills.
Vargas was the only Puerto Rican player with double-digit kills in the loss that dropped the team into fourth place and a rematch against the United States in the semifinals on Friday.
This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in the last three weeks. The United States defeated Puerto Rico twice at the recent Pan American Cup, including a victory in the gold-medal match.