Twelve Picked to Compete at NORCECA Men's U21 Champs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 7, 2024) – USA Volleyball and its National Team Development Program are happy to announce the 12 athletes who will compete for the U.S. at the NORCECA Men’s U21 Continental Championship on June 11-16 in Nogales, Mexico.

The event is a qualifier for the 2025 FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship.

Ten players on the team return from one of the two 2023 Boys U19 rosters: setters Tread Rosenthal and Trent Taliaferro, libero Roan Alviar, outside hitters Sterling Foley, Cole Hartke, Sean Kelly and Victor Loiola, opposite Finn Kearney and middle blockers Josh Aruya and Parker Tomkinson.

Joining them will be middle blockers Aidan Klein and Jackson Cryst. Cryst was on the 2022 Boys U19 roster.

Alternates for the team are setter Caleb Blanchette, libero Kellen Larson, outside hitters Justin Todd, Marek Turner and Jameson Vaccaro, opposites Braydon Savitski-Lynde and Kainoa Wade and middle blockers Tre Jordan and Tristan Whitfield.

The U.S. last competed at the NORCECA Men’s U21 Continental Championship in 2018 and finished fourth. It won gold at the event in 2016 with a team that included current Men’s National Team players Kyle Ensing, Jordan Ewert and Josh Tuaniga.

The 2023 U.S. Boys U19 Team won the NORCECA Pan American Cup and finished fourth at the FIVB World Championship, the best U.S. finish ever.

The 2023 U.S. Men’s U21 Team took silver at the NORCECA Pan American Cup and finished 13th at the FIVB World Championship.

John Hawks, men’s head coach at Loyola of Chicago, will serve as the U.S. Men’s U21 head coach assisted by Donan Cruz of Ball State and Matthew Pollock of Pepperdine.

2024 U.S. Men’s U21 National Team for the NORCECA Continental Championship

Name (Pos., Height, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
2 Roan Alviar (L, 5-11, Hayward, Calif., Princeton, Northern California)
3 Cole Hartke (OH, 7-0, Barrington, Ill., Pepperdine, Great Lakes)
6 Victor Loiola (OH, 6-4, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
7 Trent Taliaferro (S, 6-5, San Clemente, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
11 Finn Kearney (Opp, 6-5, Phoenix, Ariz., Univ. of Hawaii, Arizona)
12 Sterling Foley (OH, 6-7, Newport Beach, Calif., Univ. of Southern California, Southern California)
13 Sean Kelly (OH, 6-7, Manhattan Beach, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
15 Joshua Aruya (MB, 6-9, Mission Viejo, Calif., UC Santa Barbara, Southern California)
16 Tread Rosenthal (S, 6-9, Hermosa Beach, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Southern California)
19 Aidan Klein (MB, 6-10, Evanston, Ill., Loyola University Chicago, Great Lakes)
20 Parker Tomkinson (MB, 7-0, Carlsbad, Calif., Univ. of Southern California, Southern California)
21 Jackson Cryst (MB, 6-10, Long Beach, Calif., Sage Hill School, Southern California)

Alternates
Caleb Blanchette (S, 6-5, Franklin, Tenn., Univ. of Southern California, Southern)
Tre Jordan (MB, 6-10, Mesa, Ariz., Grand Canyon, Arizona)
Kellen Larson (L, 5-10, Irvine, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
Braydon Savitski-Lynde (Opp, 6-7, Roscoe, Ill., Ball State, Great Lakes)
Justin Todd (OH, 6-8, Honolulu, Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Aloha)
Marek Turner (OH, 6-5, Long Beach, Calif., Woodrow Wilson HS, Southern California)
Jameson Vaccaro (OH, 6-4, San Diego, Calif., Princeton, Southern California Region)
Kainoa Wade (Opp, 6-9, Kailua, Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, Aloha)
Tristan Whitfield (MB, 6-7, Virginia Beach, Va., Princeton, Old Dominion)

Head Coach: John Hawks, Loyola Chicago
Assistant Coach: Donan Cruz, Ball State
Assistant Coach: Matthew Pollock, Pepperdine
Performance Analyst: AJ Ruttenberg, UCLA
Athletic Trainer: Dr. Christopher Cornell, Coduhi Clinic
Team Leader: Donovan Martinez, USAV NTDP

U.S. Schedule for the NORCECA Men’s U21 Continental Championship
(All times PT)

June 11 at 4 p.m. USA vs. Nicaragua
June 12 at 4 p.m. USA v Suriname
June 13 at 8 p.m. USA v Mexico
June 14 Quarterfinals if necessary
June 15 Semifinals and Classification matches
June 16 Final, third-place and classification matches