The U.S. women’s national volleyball team fought back from a 0-2 set deficit to defeat Puerto Rico 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-8 Wednesday night at San Juan, Puerto Rico, during quarterfinal action of the Pan American Cup.

The U.S. will face Brazil in the semifinal round on July 6 at 6 p.m. ET with the winner advancing to the championship match on July 7 against either Dominican Republic or Cuba.

Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) led the U.S. with 27 points in the match, including six of the team’s 17 blocks. Katie Wilkins (Lakeside, Calif.) added 19 points in the victory. Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) tallied 12 points with eight kills, three blocks and an ace. Jane Collymore (Englewood, Colo.) came off the bench to score nine points in the second through fourth sets, while Jennifer Joines (Milpitas) chipped in nine points.

With the victory over Puerto Rico, the U.S. also qualified for the 2007 World Grand Prix by being one of the top three teams from NORCECA in the Pan American Cup.

"I have not event thought about Brazil in preparation for that match, and we have just a short time to prepare for them," U.S. Women’s Head Coach ‘Jenny’ Lang Ping said. "We are now qualified for next year’s World Grand Prix, which will take some of the pressure off of us during tomorrow’s match."

Puerto Rico was led by Karina Ocasio’s 25 points and Aury Cruz’s 22 points.

Puerto Rico gained the first set victory by breaking a 23-all tie with a set-ending two-point run. The host Puerto Ricans led the Americans 16-12 in the second set before the U.S. rallied to close with 21-20. However, Puerto Rico put a clamp on the second set with a 4-2 run.

"Puerto Rico came out playing well in the first two sets," Metcalf said. "After the second set, we improved our blocking and defense and started to play our game."

The Americans jumped out to a 13-7 advantage in the third set spurred by the insertion of Collymore (Englewood, Colo.) into the match for Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.). Puerto Rico closed to within 16-13 during the middle stages of the fourth set, but the U.S. pushed its lead back to 22-17 and held on for a victory in set three.

The U.S. built a 10-7 led in the fourth set, only to see Puerto Rico go on a 5-1 run to take a 12-11 edge. Puerto Rico led 16-15 at the technical timeout, but the U.S. whittled its way back into the lead at 21-20. The American squad outscored Puerto Rico 4-1 the rest of the fourth set to tie the match at two sets apiece.

"The team did a good job at fighting back tonight," U.S. middle blocker and co-captain Elisabeth Bachman (Lakeville, Minn.) said. "Everyone stepped up. Tomorrow (against Brazil) we need to be real focused, come out confident."

The U.S. rocketed to a 5-2 lead in the deciding fifth game. Puerto Rico bounced back on a 3-1 run to close to within one at 6-5. Team USA increased its lead back to three points with two unanswered points to put the score at 8-5. The U.S. finished the match in style with a 7-3 run keyed by two Joines blocks.

"Puerto Rico has improved a lot since last year," Lang Ping said. "One of their players came back this year, and they are much better with her.

"Tayyiba did not play well to start the match, and we had Jane take her place for a while. We had a lot of young players in the match and they handled the situation well. Nancy and Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Honolulu, Hawai’i) both played well also."

"Puerto Rico is a better team than last year’s squad," Metcalf said. "The coaches even said in the pre-match meeting that we could end up being down 0-2 in the match, and if that is the case, we need to be prepared and fight back."

Metcalf tallied a team season-high 38 points last year versus Korea in a five-set loss on July 1, then reached 31 points in a four-set win over Japan on July 3 during World Grand Prix action at Seoul, Korea. No other U.S. player had more than 25 points in a single match during the 2005 season.

"Brazil is a great ball control and defense team," Metcalf said. "We will need to stay disciplined tomorrow night, play our match and us dictate the tempo of the match."

The U.S. finished second in Pool B of the tournament with a 4-1 record. Puerto Rico tied for first in Pool A with a 4-1 record, but fell to third place due to the tie-breaking procedure.

Team USA won all three matches with Puerto Rico last year, but two of the matches went to four sets.

Earlier in the day, Dominican Republic defeated Peru 25-21, 25-18, 25-13 in the other quarterfinal match. Dominican Republic entered the quarterfinals the second seed out of Pool A, while Peru was the third team to come out of Pool B.

Both Brazil and Cuba advanced directly to the semifinals as the champions of Pool A and B, respectively. Cuba faces Dominican Republic, a rematch of last year’s Pan American Cup championship match, in the second semifinal on July 6 at 8 p.m.

The Pan American Cup is a qualifier for the 2007 World Grand Prix. The top three teams from NORCECA and the best ranked team from South America advance to next year’s premier women’s event on the FIVB calendar.

For additional information on the tournament, go to: www.norceca.org/endex.htm or www.norceca.org/V%20Panamerican%20Women´s%20Cup_2006.htm.

For more information about USA Volleyball, go to: www.usavolleyball.org.

* Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) hit .780 during pool play with 39 kills on 50 attacks without committing a single hitting error.

* Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa) led the U.S. in points per set with a 3.93 average. She tallied 50 kills, six blocks, three aces and 59 total points. Metcalf reached double-figure points in four of the five matches. She tallied seven kills on nine errorless swings with one block in two sets against Argentina in her only match without at least 10 points.

* Katie Wilkins (Lakeside, Calif.) averaged 3.56 points per set the U.S. in the five pool play matches. She recorded 12 aces in 16 sets for a 0.75 ace average.

* Jennifer Joines (Milpitas, Calif.) hit .553 during pool play. She tallied 28 kills on 47 swings with just two hitting errors.

* Tayyiba Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) was credited with 3.5 points per set in 14 sets during pool play action. As part of her point production, she averaged 0.64 aces per set.

* Katie Wilkins, Jennifer Joines and Candace Lee (Eugene, Ore.) were the only U.S. players to have played in all 16 sets of pool play for the Americans.

USA Women’s National Team Roster for Pan American Cup
3 – Tayyiba Haneef (OH, 6-7, Laguna Hills, Calif.)
5 – Sarah Drury (L, 5-5, Louisville, Ky.)
6 – Elisabeth Bachman (MB, 6-3, Lakeville, Minn.)
7 – Heather Bown (MB, 6-3, Yorba Linda, Calif.)
8 – Katie Wilkins (OH, 6-4, Lakeside, Calif.)
9 – Jennifer Joines (MB, 6-3, Milpitas, Calif.)
10 – Jane Collymore (OH, 6-0, Englewood, Colo.)
11 – Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (S, 5-9, Honolulu, Hawai’i)
12 – Nancy Metcalf (OPP, 6-1, Hull, Iowa)
14 – Candace Lee (L, 5-7, Eugene, Ore.)
16 – Sam Tortorello (S, 5-11, Shorewood, Ill.)
18 – Cassie Busse (OPP, 6-1, Prior Lake, Minn.)

USA Pool B Matches
June 29: def. Peru 25-18, 25-17, 25-20
June 30: def. Argentina 25-9, 25-14, 25-12
July 1: def. Barbados 25-8, 25-17, 25-11
July 2: lost to Cuba 27-25, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24
July 3: def. Venezuela 26-24, 25-20, 25-14

Pan Am Cup Pools
A: Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico
B: Argentina, Barbados, Cuba, Peru, USA, Venezuela

Final Pool Standings
Pool A
Brazil 4-1
Dominican Republic 4-1
Puerto Rico 4-1
Canada 2-3
Mexico 1-4
Costa Rica 0-5

Pool B
Cuba 5-0
United States 4-1
Peru 3-2
Venezuela 2-3
Argentina 1-4
Barbados 0-5

Pan American Cup Schedule
June 29
USA def. Peru 25-18-25-17, 25-20
Cuba def. Argentina 25-19, 25-12, 25-16
Brazil def. Dominican Republic 25-21, 24-26, 25-15, 25-19
Puerto Rico def. Mexico 18-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-19
Venezuela def. Barbados 25-10, 25-20, 25-7
Canada def. Costa Rica 25-15, 25-20, 25-6

June 30
Peru def. Venezuela 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21
Brazil def. Mexico 25-8, 25-12, 25-19
USA vs. Argentina 25-9, 25-14, 25-12
Puerto Rico def. Canada 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-25
Cuba def. Barbados 25-7, 25-22, 25-9
Dominican Republic def. Costa Rica 25-12, 25-11, 25-19

July 1
Peru def. Argentina 25-20, 25-18, 29-31, 25-21
Cuba def. Venezuela 25-16, 25-17, 25-21
Dominican Republic def. Canada 26-24, 18-25, 25-13, 25-22
Puerto Rico def. Brazil 19-25, 25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 15-13
USA def. Barbados 25-8, 25-17, 25-11
Mexico def. Costa Rica 22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-16

July 2
Venezuela def. Argentina 22-25, 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 15-10
Brazil def. Canada 25-22, 25-21, 25-12
Puerto Rico def. Costa Rica 25-14, 25-20, 25-11
Cuba def. USA 27-25, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24
Peru def. Barbados 25-18, 25-17, 25-21
Dominican Republic def. Mexico 25-17, 25-16, 27-25

July 3
Canada def. Mexico 25-14, 25-19, 25-16
USA def. Venezuela 26-24, 25-20, 25-14
Cuba def. Peru 25-15, 25-20, 25-19
Dominican Republic def. Puerto Rico 25-19, 29-27, 25-20
Argentina def. Barbados 25-13, 25-6, 25-19
Brazil def. Costa Rica 25-13, 25-13, 25-16

July 5 – Consolations
Costa Rica def. Barbados 25-19, 25-16, 25-15 (11th/12th-place match)
Mexico def. Argentina 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14 (9th/10th-place match)

July 5 - Quarterfinals
Dominican Republic def. Peru 25-21, 25-18, 25-13
U.S. def. Puerto Rico 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-8

July 6 – Consolation Bracket
Canada vs. Venezuela, 2 p.m. ET (7th/8th-place match)
Puerto Rico vs. Peru, 4 p.m. ET (5th/6th-place match)

July 6 - Semifinals
Brazil vs. U.S., 6 p.m. ET
Cuba vs. Dominican Republic, 8 p.m. ET

July 7
Championship

* During pool play action, 20 of 30 matches were settled in three sets. Only two matches were determined in the full five sets (Puerto Rico over Brazil, Venezuela over Argentina).

* A third of this year’s Pan American Cup matches have been played in front of at least 1,000 fans. The Puerto Rico versus Dominican Republic match on July 3 attracted a pool-play-high 4,500 fans. The top crowd to watch a U.S. pool play match was 3,000 as Cuba faced the Americans on July 2.

* The V Pan American Cup quarterfinal teams nearly mirrored the 2005 Pan American Cup quarterfinal teams. Five of the six countries advanced to either the quarterfinals or directly into the semifinals in comparing the years. Last year, Cuba and Dominican Republic won pool play to reach the semifinals. The U.S., Brazil and Puerto Rico all reached the quarterfinal round last year and are still alive for the championship in 2006. Canada reached the 2005 quarterfinals, while Peru replaced in the quarterfinal round in 2006. Peru did not compete in last year’s event.

* Cuba captured last year’s Pan American Cup championship with a 25-16, 25-17, 25-19 win over Dominican Republic. Brazil defeated the U.S. in the third-place match. Puerto Rico finished fifth last year, while Canada placed sixth.

* Eight of the 12 teams competing in the Fifth Pan American Cup are qualified for the next World Championships in Japan. "That says a lot about the high level of this competition where 12 squads are beginning the battle to qualify for the 2007 World Grand Prix, but also shaping up their teams for the Worlds in Japan," said Mr. Cristobal Marte, president of NORCECA during his welcome words to the participants of the General Technical Meeting prior to the event. "What we are having in Puerto Rico is like a preview of the Teams from the Americas in route to the World Championships. So, all the people in love with our sport have the chance to watch the action here before it takes place in Japan next November."

* Host Puerto Rico, already qualified for the World Championships, is seeking qualification into the 2007 World Grand Prix. The Puerto Rican captain is Aury Cruz, who earned three AVCA All-American awards while playing at the University of Florida.

* Brazil is the ranked second in the world, according to the latest rankings released Oct. 1. Cuba is ranked fourth in the world rankings, while the USA is ranked fifth.