U.S. Boys' Youth Squeeze By Egypt

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

After capturing the first two sets, errors by U.S. Boys’ Youth gave Egypt the third and fourth sets forcing a fifth set. The team used everything it had left in the final set to come back from a 7-3 deficit to take the tiebreaking set 17-15. The match lasted an exhausting two hours and 32 minutes, the longest match of the day by 37 minutes.

Matthew Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Cody Caldwell (Newport Beach, Calif.) led the U.S. in scoring. Tarantino connected on 20 kills via 47 attacks, seven blocks and a service ace for 28 points, while Caldwell delivered a tournament-high 26 kills on a team-high 57 swings and one block for 27 points. Tarantino and Caldwell are the top two scorers in the tournament thus far. Caldwell earned a team-high 27 excellent receptions on 51 attempts. Middle blocker Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) ranks No. 5 for the day’s best scorers with 22 points off of 15 kills via 22 swings for a 68.2 kill percent, three blocks and four aces. 

Outside hitter Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn.) subbed in for Greg Petty (Downers Gorve, Ill.) in the second, third and fifth set in addition to starting the fourth set and gave the U.S. eight points off of seven kills and a service ace. Nikola Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) posted seven points for the U.S. with five coming at crucial times in the fifth set including four kills and a block (three blocks total).  Petty, who started the first, second, third and fifth sets, tallied six points with five kills and a block. Opposite, Ben Patch (Provo, Utah) clocked playing time as a sub in the first four sets with one point from a service ace.

Matthew West (Seattle, Wash.), Team USA captain, was the setter for the U.S. and tallied an eye-popping 44 assists on 135 attempts compared to Egypt setter’s Mahmoud Elnagar’s 19 assists on 64 attempts. West charted a kill and a service ace for two points. Andrew Sato (Calabasas, Calif.) served as team libero posting a team-high 14 digs and 15 excellent receptions on 32 serve reception attempts.

Team USA, which held a 78-56 advantage in kills, converted 46.2 of its attacks for a .272 hitting efficiency compared to Egypt’s 33.9 kill percent and .212 hitting efficiency. The Americans edged out Egypt at the net with a 15-12 block advantage and in passing with a 51-42 dig advantage. The U.S. also held an 8-5 advantage in aces. The U.S. faced a high number of errors with 32 attack errors, 17 service errors and five reception errors for 53 total errors, in comparison to Egypt’s 44 in the same categories.

U.S. BYNT Head Coach Ken Shibuya started Sato as libero and West for all five sets. Shibuya also started middle blockers Antonijevic and Russell and outside hitters Caldwell and Tarantino in all five sets. Petty started as an outside in sets, one, two, three and five with Rhein taking the start in the fourth set. Patch saw playing time in the first, second, third and fourth set, while Austin Kingi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) subbed in during the fifth set as outside hitter. James Shaw (Woodside, Calif.) subbed in for the U.S. in the second, third and fourth sets. 

Egypt’s Islam Abdelkader was the team point’s leader with 24 coming from 21 kills, two blocks and a service ace. Marawan Mohamed, team captain, posted 17 points from 14 kills and three blocks in addition to 20 excellent receptions.

Earlier today in Pool C Brazil defeated Korea in a surprising five sets 25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9 and Cuba overthrew France 25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 25-21. In Pool D Serbia defeated Puerto Rico 25-16, 25-22, 25-20, while Spain defeated Iran 25-22, 27-25, 25-21. In the evening match, Greece outplayed Russia 25-12, 25-23, 32-30.

For more information about the tournament, visit the FIVB website by clicking here.

In the first set Egypt and the U.S. remained neck-and-neck, tying at both eight-all and 10-all with the U.S. never losing the lead.  At 10-all the U.S.  took off on a 9-2 run to secure a seven-point advantage at 19-12. Continuing its dominance, the U.S. held Egypt to only four more points before back-to-back kills from Russell and Caldwell sealed the first set for the U.S. at 25-16. Caldwell connected on six kills, while Tarantino posted up three blocks and two kills.

The U.S. maintained control throughout the second set, but Egypt remained close and never trailing by more than four points. Much like the first, the second set remained close with both teams meeting at five-all and six-all. Caldwell charted four of the Americans’ first six points. Russell delivered two consecutive aces to give the team a three-point cushion at 9-6. Caldwell continued to be a dominant force on the outside, sending back-to-back attacks to Egypt who could not manage either one. Antonijevic jumped on the board with a block at 17-15, followed by a block from Tarantino. Egypt lost its rhythm and handed over two points at 21-19 off of unforced errors. Capitalizing on the momentum, the U.S. set up Russell for the kill at 23-20 and again at set-point, giving the Americans the second set with a 25-21 score. The U.S. limited its errors in the second set, decreasing to just four as opposed to the 10 in the first set.

The U.S. found itself playing catch-up for much of the third set with Egypt putting up a solid fight to force at least a fourth set. West and Caldwell both delivered kills to ignite the U.S., but errors from the American side gave Egypt the edge at it took the lead at 6-5. Tarantino and Petty both threw up blocks bringing the U.S. back by one at 8-7. At 11-all Egypt posted four uncontested points at 15-11, only to be stopped by Caldwell’s 15th kill at 15-12. From there the U.S. fought back with a 5-2 run to bring the set to 17-all with help from two blocks and a kill from Tarantino and a pair of kills off the hands of Caldwell. The Americans couldn’t get a one up on Egypt and fell back 21-18 before kills from both Rhein and Caldwell, followed by the second pair of service aces from Russell tied the set at 22-all. The U.S. fell back 24-23 before Caldwell tallied his 19th kill to tie it up at 24-all. The teams met back at 25, 26 and 27 with Tarantino credited for three kills to tie up at all three scores. The U.S. couldn’t hang on as Egypt charted two consecutive points for the set at 29-27. The teams experienced five lead changes since the 22-all score. Of Egypt’s 29 points, 13 were off of U.S. errors.

In the marathon set of the match, the U.S. struggled to maintain its lead after recovering from a three-point deficit early in the set. The U.S. came out striking, earning its first five points off of kills from Russell, Rhein, Tarantino and two from Caldwell to bring the score to 7-5 in favor of Egypt. Rhein charted two consecutive kills at 11-9 to initiate what would be a 6-3 run by the U.S. to take the lead for the first time in the set at 15-14. The Americans held their biggest lead at 19-16 with points coming off a block and a kill from Antonijevic. Despite the efforts from a Caldwell block and kills from Tarantino and Russell the U.S. lost its lead at 22-all, much like the third set. Tarantino delivered an untouchable attack to give the U.S. a one-point advantage at 23-22 and then again at 24-23, the first set-match point of the series. Egypt tied the game at 24-all before earning a set-point at 25-24 only to be answered by the U.S. at 25-all. Egypt chalked-up its second set point but again, the game was tied up at 26-all. At 32-all Antonijevik provided Egypt with a rocket of an attack to give the advantage back to the U.S. at 33-32. Both teams continued to battle tying at 33-all and again at 34-all until Egypt ended it with two points to take the set at 36-24, forcing a fifth set to a surprised United States team.

Team USA battled back from a 7-3 deficit in the fifth set to take the set at 17-15. Tarantino was the star of the set posting five kills and a block in crucial moments, earning him a team-high 28 points on the match. Caldwell charted three kills, while additional kills came off of the hands of Russell, Petty and Antonijevic.

2011 U.S. Boys' Youth National Team
No. Name (Position, City, State, Club, Region)
1- Nikola Antonijevic (MB, Buffalo Grove, Ill., Adversity, Great Lakes)
2- Cody Caldwell (OH, Newport Beach, Calif., Balboa Bay, Southern California)
5- Austin Kingi (OH, Tousand Oaks, Calif., SMBC, Southern California)
6- Josh Kirchner (MB, Sussex, Wis., West Allis Lightning, Badger)
10- Ben Patch (Opposite, Provo, Utah, Vegas VC, Intermountain)
11- Greg Petty (OH, Downers Grove, Ill., Sports Performance, Great Lakes)
12- Scott Rhein (OH, Pleasant View, Tenn., Impact, Southern)
13- Aaron Russell (MB, Ellicott City, Md., MVP, Chesapeake)
15- Andrew Sato (Libero, Calabasas, Calif., SMBC, Southern California)
16- James Shaw (Setter, Woodside, Calif., Mountain View, Northern California)
17- Matthew Tarantino (OH, Van Nuys, Calif., SMBC, Southern California)
18- Matthew West (Setter, Seattle, Wash., Spaceneedle, Puget Sound)
*DJ White (OH, Hermosa Beach, Calif., MB Surf, Southern California)

*White will not be making the trip to Argentina due to scheduling conflict with Harvard University.

Staff
Head Coach – Ken Shibuya, Stanford University
Asst. Coach – Dan Friend, Lewis University
Asst. Coach – Rob Neilson, Bringham Young University
Team Manager: Tom Tait
Team Doctor: Julie Chuan
Technical Coordinator: Jonah Carson, University of the Pacific

First Round (Aug. 19-21)
Times are in Pacific Time

Pool A (Almirante Brown)
Aug. 19: USA def. Egypt 25-16, 25-21, 27-29, 34-36, 17-15
Aug. 19: Argentina vs. Bulgaria, 5 p.m.
Aug. 20: USA vs. Bulgaria, 2 p.m.
Aug. 20: Egypt vs. Argentina, 5 p.m.
Aug. 21: Bulgaria vs. Egypt, 2 p.m.
Aug. 21: Argentina vs. USA, 5 p.m.

Pool B (Bahia Blanca)
Aug. 19: Greece def. Russia 25-12, 25-23, 32-30
Aug. 19: Tunisia vs. China, 5 p.m.
Aug. 20: Greece vs. China, 2 p.m.
Aug. 20: Russia vs. Tunisia, 5 p.m.
Aug. 21: Tunisia vs. Greece, 2 p.m.
Aug. 21: China vs. Russia, 5 p.m.

Pool C (Almirante Brown)
Aug. 19: Brazil def. Korea 25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9
Aug. 19: Cuba def. France 25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 25-21
Aug. 20: France vs. Korea, 6 a.m.
Aug. 20: Cuba vs. Brazil, 9 a.m.
Aug. 21: Brazil vs. France, 6 a.m.
Aug. 21: Korea vs. Cuba, 9 a.m.

Pool D (Bahia Blanca)
Aug. 19: Serbia def. Puerto Rico 25-16, 25-22, 25-20
Aug. 19: Spain def. Iran 25-22, 27-25, 25-21
Aug. 20: Spain vs. Puerto Rico, 6 a.m.
Aug. 20: Iran vs. Serbia, 9 a.m.
Aug. 21: Serbia vs. Spain, 6 a.m.
Aug. 21: Puerto Rico vs. Iran, 9 a.m.

Round Two (Aug. 23-25)

The 1st and 2nd ranked teams of Pool E and F will qualify for the semifinals.
The 3rd and 4th ranked teams of Pool E and F will qualify for the play-off 5-8.
The 1st and 2nd ranked teams of Pool G and H will qualify for the play-off 9-12.
The 3rd and 4th ranked teams of Pool G and H will qualify for the play-off 13-16.

Semifinals (Aug. 27)

The semifinals and play-offs consist of a total of eight matches: two semifinal matches for the rankings 1-4, two matches for the classification 5-8, two matches for the qualification 9-12 and two matches for the classification 13-16.

Finals (Aug. 28)

The finals and play-offs consist of a total of eight matches:
- the winners of the semifinals will play the final for the 1st and 2nd position.
- the losers of the semifinals will play for the 3rd and 4th position.
- the winners of the play-off 5-8 will play for the 5th-6th position.
- the losers of the play-off 5-8 will play for the 7th-8th position.
- the winners of the play-off 9-12 will play for the 9th-10th position.
- the losers of the play-off 9-12 will play for the 11th-12th position.
- the winners of the play-off 13-16 will play for the 13th-14th position.
- the losers of the play-off 13-16 will play for the 15th-16th position.

Tags: 2010 U.S. Boys' Youth National Team, 2011 Boys' Youth National Team, 2011 Boys' Youth National Team , Aaron Russell, Andrew Sato, Austin Kingi, Ben Patch, Cody Caldwell, Dan Friend, FIVB Volleyball Boys' Youth World Championship Argentina 2011, FIVB World Championship, Greg Petty, James Shaw, Josh Kirchner, Ken Shibuya, Matt Tarantino, Matt West, mobile, Rob Neilson, Scott Rhein, U.S. Boys' Youth National Team