Men's Junior Team Opens Strong at NORCECA

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

Unofficial DataVolley Statistics * Official Match Statistics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 16, 2010) – The U.S. Men’s Junior National Team easily won its first pool play match of the 2010 NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental Championship on Monday with a 25-9, 25-7, 25-10 sweep of Trinidad & Tobago in Gatineau, Quebec.

The United States (1-0) will play Martinique in pool play on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET. The match is scheduled to be shown live at ssncanada.ca.

U.S. Men’s Junior Head Coach John Hawks (Huntington Beach, Calif.) got every player on the floor and every player scored except libero Evan Mottram (Leona Valley, Calif.).

Unofficially, the U.S. Men's Junior Team out-blocked Trinidad & Tobago 8-3 and had 11 aces while Trinidad & Tobago had three. The U.S. team had an attack percentage of 0.52 and a hitting percentage of 0.41. Trinidad & Tobago's attack percentage was 0.08.

Team USA was 60 percent "excellent" on serve receive while Trinidad & Tobago was 32 percent "excellent."

"We came out and had some nerves ourselves," Hawks said. "I’m glad to see all the guys got in and played well. I thought we served the ball fairly well and put some pace on it."

Unofficially, middle blocker Dylan Davis (Newport Beach, Calif.) led the U.S. Men’s Junior Team on Monday with seven points on two kills (0.50 hitting percentage), a match-high three blocks and two aces. Outside hitter Taylor Crabb (Honolulu, Hawaii) added six points on a match-high five kills (0.50 hitting percentage) and one block.

"It was very important for us to get the tournament off to a good start," said Davis, the U.S. team captain. "We had some butterflies because we had no idea what we were going up against. We just played really physical with a lot of energy."

Middle blocker Eric Mochalski (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) contributed five points on three kills (0.75 hitting percentage), one block and one ace.

Four players scored four points each: Outside hitter Jeremy Dejno (New Berlin, Wis.) had two kills (0.50 hitting percentage) and two aces. Outside hitter Taylor Sander (Norco, Calif.) added two kills (0.33 hitting percentage) and two aces. Opposite Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii) totaled three kills (0.25 hitting percentage) and one block. Opposite Maurice Torres (Riverside, Calif.) had three kills (0.60 hitting percentage) and one block.

Outside hitter Brian Cook (Santa Cruz, Calif.) scored three points on one kill and two aces. Setter Micah Christenson (Honolulu, Hawaii) totaled two points on one kill and one block and setter Matt West (Seattle, Wash.) added two points on two aces. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken (Westlake Village, Calif.) scored one point on one kill.

Mottram led the United States' in serve receive with nine and eight of those were deemed "excellent."

Hawks started Crabb and Sander at outside hitter, Mochalski and Davis at middle blocker, Torres at opposite, Christenson at setter and Mottram at libero.

West substituted for Christenson in the second set and started the third. Taylor substituted for Torres in the second set and started the third. Dejno substituted for Crabb in the second set and started the third. Kevorken and Cook both started the third set.

USA Volleyball Men’s Junior National Team:
No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, High School/Grad. Year, Club, Region)
2 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Kamehameha Kapalama/2011, Outrigger Canoe Club, Aloha)
4 Brian Cook (OH, 6-6, Santa Cruz, Calif., Soquel/2010, Bay to Bay, Northern California)
5 Taylor Crabb (OH, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Punahou/2010, Outrigger Canoe Club, Aloha)
6 C Dylan Davis (MB, 6-9, Newport Beach, Calif., Corona Del Mar/2009, UC Santa Barbara, Southern California)
7 Jeremy Dejno (OH, 6-4, New Berlin, Wis., New Berlin Eisenhower/2010, West Allis Lightning, Badger)
9 Scott Kevorken (MB, 6-9, Westlake Village, Calif., Westlake/2009, UC Irvine, Southern California)
11 Eric Mochalski (MB, 6-6, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Mira Costa/2010, SCVC, Southern California)
12 Evan Mottram (L, 6-4, Leona Valley, Calif., Quartz Hill/2009, UC Santa Barbara, Southern California)
13 Matt West (S, 6-5.5, Seattle, Wash., Shorewood/2011, Space Needle VF, Puget Sound)
15 Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Norco, Calif., Norco/2010, Orange Coast VC, Southern California)
17 Josh Taylor (OPP, 6-7, Honolulu, Hawaii, Punahou/2011, Kuikahi VC, Aloha)
18 Maurice Torres (OPP, 6-7, Riverside, Calif., Lutheran/2009, Pepperdine, Southern California)

Head Coach: John Hawks (Long Beach State University)
Assistant Coaches: Colin McMillan (Penn State University) and Brad Keller (USC)

Event Schedule (All times ET) and Results

Monday, Aug. 16
Pool A: Dominican Republic def. Guatemala, 25-22, 25-23, 25- 23
Pool B: Puerto Rico def. St. Lucia, 25-10, 25-13, 25-10
Pool B: Cuba vs. Honduras, 25-12, 25-19, 25-15
Pool C: Mexico def. Martinique, 25-15, 25-15, 25-16
Pool C: USA def. Trinidad & Tobago, 25-9, 25-7, 25-10

Tuesday, Aug. 17
11:00 Mexico vs. Trinidad & Tobago
13:00 Cuba vs. St. Lucia
15:00 Puerto Rico vs. Honduras
18:00 USA vs. Martinique
20:00 Canada vs. Guatemala

Wednesday, Aug. 18
11:00 Honduras vs. St. Lucia
13:00 Trinidad & Tobago vs. Martinique
15:00 USA vs. Mexico
18:00 Cuba vs. Puerto Rico
20:00 Canada vs. Dominican Republic

Thursday, Aug. 19
13:00 Consolation Quarterfinal
15:00 Consolation Quarterfinal
18:00 Quarterfinal
20:00 Quarterfinal

Friday, Aug. 20
13:00 9th-place match
15:00 7th-place match
18:00 Semifinal
20:00 Semifinal

Saturday, August 21
13:00 10th-place match
15:00 5th-place match
18:00 Bronze medal match
20:00 Gold medal match

Tags: 2010 U.S. Men's Junior National Team, Brian Cook, Dylan Davis, Eric Mochalski, Evan Mottram, Jeremy Dejno, John Hawks, Josh Taylor, Matt West, Maurice Torres, Micah Christenson, NORCECA Continental Championship, NORCECA Men's Junior Continental Championship, Scott Kevorken, Taylor Crabb, Taylor Sander, U.S. Men's Junior National Team