Already secured as the Pool D first seed after winning the first two sets against Cuba, the USA turned to its “B squad” for some much-needed exposure heading into the Round of 16 of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
Although the second-stringers needed an entire set to find their rhythm, they finally figured it out in the fourth to defeat the Cubans, 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25, sweeping the group on Wednesday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“We just trusted the B squad. We’ve been training really hard, pushing the A squad a lot recently,” said Cooper Robinson, who led the USA in scoring despite coming off the bench.
“I think we just trusted our guys and were confident. We knew that if we were going to have some fun, this was the time to do it. So, we went out and just did it,” he added.
Robinson delivered a game-high 14 points, half of them coming in the fourth set alone, while Kyle Ensing added seven points.
Jacob Pasteur also contributed seven points as the “B squad” delivered what head coach Karch Kiraly had hoped for.
“We believe we’re going to need contributions from everybody to try and get past the Round of 16, so it was nice to get most of the guys onto the court, give them some experience, and allow them a chance to make contributions. They all did, and we ended up with a close win against Cuba,” said Kiraly, who led the USA women’s national volleyball team to its first-ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020.
Kiraly utilized all but one of his 14 players, and the team now moves on to the Round of 16 with four days to rest before the knockout stages.
With the impressive performance of the “B squad” and the steady play of the “A squad,” the Americans are looking to make even more noise deep into the competition.
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