Team PMI Concludes Club Worlds with Loss

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. (Dec. 19, 2010) – Team PMI finished the FIVB Club World Championships with a hard-fought 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 loss to Italy’s Trentino on Sunday in Doha, Qatar.

Team PMI, a U.S. club team representing the NORCECA zone at the Championships that trained at the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, Calif., before leaving for Qatar, finishes tournament pool play at 0-3 and will not advance to the semifinals. Trentino will advance as the Pool B champion at 3-0.

Outside hitter Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) led Team PMI with 13 points on 12 kills and one block. Opposite Eric Vance (Camarillo, Calif.) added nine points on nine kills.

Bulgarian Tsvetan Sokolov of Trentino led all scorers with 18 points on a match-high18 kills. Bulgarian Matey Kaziyski added 13 points on 13 kills while Dore Della Lunga added 13 on 11 kills, one block and one ace.

“We felt like we had a very good game plan for this match but our opponents are one of the strongest teams in the world and we could not claim a set,” said Team PMI Head Coach Gary Sato (Los Angeles, Calif.). “Honestly I am pretty happy with the performance of my players as they get the necessary experience by playing this kind of game for them to mature and improve.”

Trentino out-hit Team PMI, 51-38. Trentino’s hitting percentage was 0.50 while PMI’s was 0.34. Trentino out-blocked PMI 6-3 and also had three aces while PMI had two. Trentino also won the digging battle, 28-16. The teams were well matched in “excellent” receptions, with Trentino edging out PMI 39-38.

“We wanted to score another win and get the points. I decided to change four players of the starting six and that was necessary for some of my guys to get some rest before we head into the semis and the decisive stage of this competition,” Trentino Head Coach Radostin Stoytchev said.
“It was not easy at all. We knew that we were the stronger side but we pay a lot of respect to our opponents and the Americans played a good first set.”

Among other Team PMI scorers, outside hitter Damien Scott (Santa Ana, Calif.) had six points on four kills and a match-high two aces. Middle blocker Duncan Budinger (Encinitas, Calif.) scored five points on four kills and one block. Middle blocker Matt Prosser (Ventura, Calif.) added five points on four kills and one block.

Outside hitter Nils Nielsen (Fallbrook, Calif.) totaled two points on two kills. Middle blocker Matt Rawson (Los Angeles, Calif.) had two points on two kills. Opposite Dean Bittner (Lakewood, Calif.) scored one point on one kill.

Libero Paul Muñoz (Huntington Beach, Calif.) led the team in digs with six and no faults on six attempts. Scott led the team in excellent receptions with 13 and one fault on 23 attempts. Vance had 12 excellent receptions and one fault on 19 attempts. Muñoz had seven excellent receptions and one fault on 12 attempts.

Starting setter Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, Ariz.) was credited with 17 running sets and one fault on 65 attempts. Setter Chris Seiffert (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), who played as a substitute in the first set, was credited with two running sets and no faults on five attempts.

Sato started Patterson and Scott at outside hitter, Prosser and Budinger at middle blocker, Vance at opposite, Hildebrand at setter and Muñoz at libero.

Bittner, Rawson and Seiffert played as substitutes.

The City of Anaheim is the Official Host City for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Volleyball teams. The Men’s Team relocated to Anaheim from Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2006, and the Women’s Team followed in 2009, with both teams citing the advantages of training in Southern California, unequivocally the volleyball capitol of the country. The Men’s Team won the gold medal, and the Women’s team the silver medal, at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Anaheim serves as the training headquarters for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, and in partnership with USA Volleyball, will further promote the City throughout the volleyball and Olympic sport communities.  USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body for the sport of volleyball in the United States, and is recognized as such by the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Both the Men’s and Women’s Teams will train in Anaheim through the 2016 Olympic Games. For more information on the City of Anaheim, please visit www.anaheim.net.

For more information on the FIVB Men’s Club World Championship, click here.

Team PMI

No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 Eric Vance (OH, 6-4, Camarillo, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
2 Chris Seiffert (S, 6-6, Laguna Niguel, Calif., Long Beach State)
3 John Mayer (Opp, 6-7, Thousand Oaks, Calif., Pepperdine)
5 Matt Prosser (MB, 6-7, Ventura, Calif., Long Beach State)
6 Nils Nielsen (OH, 6-4, Fallbrook, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
7 Tyler Hildebrand (S, 6-4, Mesa, Ariz., Long Beach State)
8 Matt Rawson (MB, 6-7, Los Angeles, Calif., Hawaii)
9 Duncan Budinger (MB, 6-8, Encinitas, Calif., Long Beach State)
10 Casey Patterson (OH, 6-7, Van Nuys, Calif., BYU)
11 Dean Bittner (Opp, 6-7, Lakewood, Calif., Long Beach State)
13 Paul Muñoz (L, 6-1, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
18 Damien Scott (OH, 6-5, Santa Ana, Calif., UCLA)

Head Coach: Gary Sato (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Team Manager: Alan Segal (Savannah, Ga.)
Assistant Coach: Chris Jackson (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Therapist/Trainer: Erin Wahlen (Anaheim, Calif.)
Medical Support: Maria Boquiren (Culver City, Calif.)

Pool A
BCH - PGE Skra Belchatow (POL)
AAH - Al Ahly (EGY)
PAY - Paykan (IRI)
AAR - Al Arabi Doha (QAT)

Pool B
TRE - Trentino (ITA), 3-0
BLV - Drean Bolivar (ARG), 2-1
MOS - Dynamo Moscow (RUS), 1-2
PMI - Team Paul Mitchell/Anahaim (USA), 0-3

FIVB Men’s Club World Championship Results
Pool B
Dec. 15: BLV def. PMI-BLV, 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-21)
Dec. 16: TRE def. MOS, 3-0 (25-21 25-23 27-25)
Dec. 17: MOS def. PMI, 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-23)
Dec. 17: TRE def. BLV, 3-1 (25-16, 25-15, 23-25, 25-22)
Dec. 19: BLV def. MOS, 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19)
Dec. 19: TRE def. PMI, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20)

Semifinals
Dec. 20: 1A v 2B, 1 a.m.
Dec. 20: 1B v 2A, 8 a.m.

Finals
Dec. 21: Third-place match, 1 a.m.
Dec. 21: First-place match, 8 a.m.

Tags: Chris Jackson, FIVB, FIVB Club World Championship, Gary Sato, Tyler Hildebrand