Men's Junior Team 2-0 at NORCECA Championships

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. 17, 2010) – The U.S. Men’s Junior National Team went 2-0 at the 2010 NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental Championship on Tuesday with a 25-14, 25-11, 25-11 sweep of Martinique in Gatineau, Quebec.

The United States (2-0) will play Mexico (2-0) for first place in Pool C on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.

According to the official team statistics, the U.S. Men’s Junior Team out-blocked Martinique 14-3, out-served it four aces to one and had a hitting percentage of 0.46 and a kill percentage of 0.61. Martinique’s kill percentage was 0.15.

The U.S. service reception was 65 percent excellent. Martinique’s was 35 percent excellent. The United States had 10 digs to Martinique’s two.

However, U.S. Men’s Junior Head Coach John Hawks (Huntington Beach, Calif.) was not completely satisfied with his team’s performance.

“I thought we weren’t that crisp early on,” Hawks said. “We missed some serves and we weren’t executing at the net.  But I give our guys credit for their resiliency.  I thought that they battled hard and we got back on track with a nice run of points.”

For a second match, Hawks played every player and every player scored but libero Evan Mottram (Leona Valley, Calif.).

Opposite Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the U.S. Men’s Junior Team with 10 points on a match-high eight kills (0.78 hitting percentage) and two blocks. Outside hitter Taylor Crabb (Honolulu, Hawaii) added nine points on seven kills (0.43 hitting percentage), one block and one ace. Middle blocker Dylan Davis (Newport Beach, Calif.) finished with seven points on three kills (0.75 hitting percentage), three blocks and one ace.

“We know it’s going to be a lot tougher and we are going to have to go out with a lot more fire than we did tonight,” said Davis, the U.S. team captain. “That was not our best volleyball and we all know that.”

Opposite Maurice Torres (Riverside, Calif.) scored six points on three kills (0.50 hitting percentage) and three blocks. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken (Westlake Village, Calif.) added five points on four kills (0.43) and one block. Middle blocker Eric Mochalski (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) finished with five points on four kills (1.0 hitting percentage) and one ace.

Setter Micah Christenson (Honolulu, Hawaii) totaled four points on two kills (0.67 hitting percentage) and two blocks. Outside hitter Jeremy Dejno added three points on three kills (0.17 hitting percentage). Outside hitter Taylor Sander (Norco, Calif.) scored three points on one kill, one block and one ace.

Outside hitter Brian Cook (Santa Cruz, Calif.) was credited with one point on one kill. Setter Matt West (Seattle, Wash.) scored one point on one block.

West was credited with 16 running sets on 22 attempts. Christenson was credited with nine running sets on 26 attempts. Libero Evan Mottram (Leona Valley, Calif.) led the United States in excellent receptions with 11 and digs with four.

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

West came in as a substitute in the second set and started the third at setter. Torres substituted at middle blocker in the second set and started the third. Dejno and Mochalski both started the third set and Cook played as a substitute.

The U.S. took an 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout (TTO) of the first set, scoring on a block and kill by Taylor and a kill from Sander along with five Martinique errors. Martinique came back to score the next four points before Taylor ended the run with a kill. A Martinique kill made the score 9-7 before Team USA scored on two straight kills by Christenson and Davis. Martinique came back to score three straight points and pulled to within one at 11-10. Hawks called timeout and Martinique came back with a service error. The U.S. scored again on a Kevorken kill to lead 13-10. The U.S. lead was still three, 16-13, at the second TTO. Team USA scored again on a Taylor kill. Martinique responded with a kill to make it 17-14. But that was the last time the Caribbean country scored as Team USA scored the next eight points to win the set.

The score was tied 3-3 in the second set when a Taylor kill gave him the serve and sparked a seven-point scoring run, including two Sander aces, a Christenson block and a Taylor kill. Martinique came back with two points before the U.S. scored three on a Davis kill and ace and Christenson block. Later, with the U.S. leading 15-6, Martinique strung together three straight points to pull to within six. A Kevorken kill gave Team USA a 16-9 lead at the second TTO. Later, with the U.S. leading 20-11, it scored the final five points, including a kill by Crabb and two blocks from Torres.

The U.S. Men’s Junior Team took a 5-1 lead in the third set, scoring on two kills from Torres, two by Mochalski, and one from Dejno. Martinique called timeout and scored on two blocks to make it 5-3. But the U.S. used a kill and block from Torres and ace by Mochalski to lead 8-3 at the first TTO. Later, with Team USA leading 11-5, Crabb scored on a kill, then took the serve and got an ace. The U.S. scored the next five points to lead 18-5. It expanded the lead to 21-6 before Martinique scored twice to make the score 21-8. The two teams traded points until the U.S. won at 25-11.

NORCECA Men's Junior (U-21) Contenental Championship
Aug. 16-21 in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

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
Pool A: Canada vs. Guatemala, 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 26-24
Pool B: Cuba def. St. Lucia, 25-10, 25-10, 25-14
Pool B: Puerto Rico def. Honduras, 25-19, 25-13, 25-11
Pool C: Mexico def. Trinidad & Tobago, 25-15, 25-13, 25-9
Pool C: USA def. Martinique, 25-14, 25-11, 25-11

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 Training Team, John Hawks, Men's Junior National Team, NORCECA, NORCECA Men's Junior Continental Championship