U.S. Boys' Team Sweeps Canada at NORCECA Championship

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

To view U.S. Boys' Youth National Team Data Volley statistics for the match, click here.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 6, 2010) – The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Volleyball Team got off to a good start on Tuesday, sweeping Canada, 25-14, 25-17, 25-11, in its first match of the 2010 NORCECA Boys’ Youth (U-19) Continental Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The U.S. Boys' Team (1-0) will take  Wednesday off from pool play and watch Canada (0-1) play Cuba. On Thursday, the United States  will play Cuba to complete pool play.

Team USA dominated the net on Tuesday, with a kill percentage of 0.45 as opposed to 0.15 for Canada. The United States out-blocked Canada 8-3.

“I´m very excited because this is the first international event for many of my athletes,” U.S. Head Coach Gary Sato (Los Angeles, Calif.) said.

“We felt a little nervous because we didn´t really know the level of skill of our opponents, but I felt good with our performance, especially with our blocking and defense,” added U.S. Team Captain Micah Christenson (Honolulu, Hawaii).

In unofficial statistics, Matt Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif.) led all scorers with a match-high 10 points on seven kills, two blocks and one ace. His kill percentage was 0.44.

D.J. White (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) added eight points on six kills and two blocks while Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn.) scored eight points on four kills and a match-high four aces.

Owen McAndrews (Avon Lake, Ohio) totaled seven points on six kills and one block. Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, Md.) contributed six points on three kills and a match-high three blocks.

John La Rusch (Long Beach, Calif.) scored three points on three kills while Nik Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Chris Orenic (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) each had one point on one kill.

Libero Andrew Sato (Calabasas, Calif.) was credited with 85 percent positive receptions on 13 attempts.

Sato started White and Rhein at outside hitter, Russell and McAndrews at middle blocker, Tarantino at opposite and Christenson at setter and Sato at libero.

Antonijevic, Austin Kingi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), La Rusch, Orenic and Matt West (Seattle, Wash.) all played as substitutes.

The U.S. Boys’ Team took an 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout (TTO) of the first set thanks in part to two kills from Rhein, one each from McAndrews and Tarantino and a block by Russell. Canada came back with two points to make it 8-6. Each team scored once more before a McAndrews kill set the United States off on a seven-point run behind the serving of Rhein, who had an ace in the surge that made the score 16-7. Canada came out of the second TTO and scored twice on U.S. errors to make it 16-9. But the U.S. Boys’ Team responded with a 7-1 run that gave it a 23-10 lead and put the set out of reach for Canada.

Canada opened the second set with a 4-3 lead, all of its points coming on U.S. errors. Team USA scored the next four points, including blocks from Tarantino and Russell, to take a 7-4 lead and it led 8-6 at the first TTO. Canada scored another point on a U.S. error before Team USA scored the next three points, including kills from White and Russell. The U.S. Boys’ Team led 16-10 at the second TTO. Later, it led 17-12 when Tarantino used a kill to move into the server’s position and served for the next three points, including an ace and a block by Russell to give the United States the 21-12 lead. The United States reached set point first at 25-15. Canada scored twice on a U.S. error and a block before Antonijevic ended the set with a kill.

Team USA held an 8-4 lead at the first TTO of the third set, scoring on a kill and an ace from Rhein along with two kills by Russell, one from White and three Canada errors. Team USA held a five-point lead at 12-7 when a McAndrews kill sparked a five-point run that included kills from La Rusch and White and an ace from Rhein. Later, the United States led 22-11 when it scored two points on Canada errors, then ended the set and match with a kill from Orenic.

The winning team at the 2010 NORCECA Championship will qualify for the first Youth Olympic Games on Aug. 14-26 in Singapore.

The NORCECA Championship is also a qualifier for the 2011 FIVB Boys’ Youth World Championship at a site and date to be determined. The top two or three finishers will qualify for Worlds.

To view the official P2 statistical form from the match, click here.

To view the official P3 statistical form from the match, click here.

Live streaming of the matches is available at www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/esp/index.asp.

To view the match photo gallery, go to http://usavolleyball.org/multimedia/photo_gallery/1470.

2010 U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team
NORCECA Continental Championships
April 6-11 in Guadalajara, Mexico

No. Name (Position; Height; Hometown; Club; Region)
3 Nikola Antonijevic (MB; 6-8; Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Adversity; Great Lakes)
4 Micah Christenson (S; 6-5; Honolulu, Hawaii; Outrigger Canoe Club; Aloha)
7 Austin Kingi (OH; 6-4; Thousand Oaks, Calif.; SCVC; Southern California)
9 John La Rusch (OH; 6-6; Long Beach; Calif.; MB Surf; Southern California)
10 Owen McAndrews (MB; 6-4; Avon Lake, Ohio; Matchpoint; Ohio Valley)
12 Christopher Orenic (OH; 6-3; Manhattan Beach, Calif.; SCVC; Southern California)
13 Scott Rhein (OH; 6-5; Pleasant View, Tenn.; Impact; Southern)
14 Aaron Russell (MB; 6-7.5; Ellicott City, Md.; MVP; Chesapeake)
16 Andrew Sato (L; 5-9; Calabasas, Calif.; SMBC; Southern California)
17 Matt Tarantino (OPP; 6-8; Van Nuys, Calif.; SMBC; Southern California)
18 Matt West (S; 6-5.5; Seattle, Wash.; Space Needle Volleyball Foundation; Puget Sound)
19 D.J. White (OH; 6-5; Hermosa Beach, Calif.; MB Surf; Southern California)

Head Coach: Gary Sato (Los Angeles)
Team Leader: Tom Tait
Assistant Coach: Jeff Stork (Topanga, Calif.)
Trainer: Walt Ker (Valencia, Calif.)
Physician: Julie Chuan

Tournament Schedule and Results
(All times PDT)

Pool Play

April 6
Pool A: USA def. Canada, 25-14, 25-17, 25-11
Pool B: Puerto Rico def. Curacao, 25-22, 25-11, 25-13
Pool C: Guatemala def. Costa Rica, 25-19, 25-19, 25-18

April 7
Pool A: Cuba def. Canada, 25-14, 25-10, 25-13 
Pool B: Dominican Republic def. Curacao, 25-11, 25-20, 25-14 
Pool C: Mexico def. Guatemala, 25-12, 25-9, 25-13

April 8
Pool B: Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico, 1 p.m.
Pool A: Cuba vs. USA, 3 p.m.
Pool C: Mexico vs. Costa Rica, 5 p.m.

April 9
2 p.m.: Classification 9
4 and 6 p.m.: Quarterfinals

April 10
2 p.m.: Classification 7/8
4 and 6 p.m.: Semifinals

April 11
Noon: Classification 5/6
2 p.m.: Third-place match
4 p.m.: Championship

Tags: 2010 U.S. Boys' Youth National Team, Aaron Russell, Andrew Sato, Austin Kingi, Christopher Orenic, D.J. White, Gary Sato, John La Rusch, Matt Tarantino, Matt West, Micah Christenson, Nikola Antonijevic, NORCECA Boys' Youth Continental Championship, NORCECA Continental Championship, Owen McAndrews, Scott Rhein, U.S. Boys' Youth National Team