Boys U19 Team Defeats Egypt Behind 16 Blocks at 2023 Worlds

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (August 4, 2023) – The U.S. Boys U19 National Team continued its strong start at the 2023 FIVB Boys U19 World Championship with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 26-24) win over Egypt on Friday in San Juan, Argentina.

The U.S. (2-0) faces host Argentina (2-0) at 5 p.m. PDT on Saturday.

The U.S. held a 37-33 advantage in kills, but a commanding 16-4 advantage in blocks was the key statistic. Four of those blocks came from setter Tread Rosenthal with middle blockers Tristan Whitfield and Kaumana Carreira each recording four also. Five different players registered a block in the first set, while Carreira (three) and Whitfield (two) combined for five blocks in the final set.

MATCH STATS (PDF)

Outside hitter Sterling Foley led all scorers with 16 points on 13 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitter Sean Kelly matched Foley with 13 kills, hitting at a .619 efficiency percentage with no errors in 21 attacks, and he finished with 14 successful receptions, just one shy of Egypt’s team total.

Opposite Finn Kearney also reached double digits with 10 points on eight kills, one block and one ace. Libero Kellen Larson’s 18 digs gave him 39 digs in the first two matches of the championship.

“I thought we did really good,” Larson said. “I thought we started out really well and our passing was really good so we were able to get good sets to our hitters.”

The U.S. Boys U19 started the match on an 11-4 run, forcing Egypt into an early timeout. The remainder of the set was much of the same as the U.S. hit .350. Kearney was successful on each of his first five attacks.

The U.S. scored eight of the first 10 points of the second set. Egypt pulled within three points on four different occasions, but three consecutive U.S. points at 15-12 upped the lead back to six points.

Egypt fell behind again early in the third set, yielding four of the first five points, but came back to take the lead. Some impressive defensive efforts gave Egypt an 18-16 lead, but the U.S. quickly tied it with the next two points. The rest of the set was back and forth with Egypt serving for the set at 24-23, but the U.S. secured the final three points.

“I thought it was a really impressive performance by our guys,” head coach Charlie Sullivan said. “They played really hard; they played together. I thought their culture and cohesion kind of stole some momentum from Egypt, and we were able to capitalize on some really big plays. We were tested in game three, which was great. The guys just stayed in system and made some adjustments really well and we were able to pull it out.”

Sullivan added his thoughts about facing home favorite Argentina Saturday night.

“Really talented Argentina team,” he said. “[They] just play good volleyball, don’t make a lot of errors, some unique attacking . I think the culture of volleyball on our team is strong, so it’s going to really be a battle for us.”

Boys U19 Roster for the World Championship

Name (Position, height, birth year, hometown, school, USAV Region)
1 Kellen Larson (L, 5-10, 2005, Irvine, Calif., Woodbridge High School, Southern California)
5 Marek Turner (Opp, 6-5, 2006, Long Beach, Calif., Woodrow Wilson High School, Southern California)
6 Victor Loiola (OH, 6-4, 2005, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Mira Costa High School, Southern California)
7 Trent Taliaferro (S, 6-5, 2005, San Clemente, Calif., JSerra Catholic High School, Southern California)
11 Finn Kearney (OPP, 6-5, 2006, Phoenix, Ariz., Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Arizona)
12 Sterling Foley (OH, 6-6, 2005, Newport Beach, Calif., Corona del Mar High School, Southern California)
13 Sean Kelly (OH, 6-6, 2005, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Loyola High School, Southern California)
14 Sebastiano Sani (OH, 6-8, 2005, Bethesda, Md., Walter Johnson High School, Chesapeake)
15 Josh Aruya (MB, 6-7, 2005, Mission Viejo, Calif., Mission Viejo High School, Southern California)
16 Tread Rosenthal  (S, 6-7, 2006, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Mira Costa High School, Southern California)
17 Tristan Whitfield (MB, 6-7, 2005, Virginia Beach, Va., Cape Henry Collegiate, Old Dominion)
19 Kaumana Carreira (MB, 6-8, 2005, Mission Viejo, Calif., Tesoro High School, Southern California)

Head Coach: Charlie Sullivan (Head Coach, Springfield College)
Assistant Coach: Lindsay Brown (Assistant Coach, Loyola of Chicago)
Assistant Coach: Jonah Carson
Performance Analyst: Evan Metzger (Performance Analyst, Springfield College)
Athletic Trainer: Rachel Menze (CSUN)
Team Leader: Sam Shweisky (Head Coach, Princeton)

Alternates
2 Roan Alviar (L, 5-11, 2006, Hayward, Calif., Bishop O’Dowd High School, Northern California)
3 Cole Hartke (OH , 6-10, 2006, Barrington, Ill., Barrington High School, Great Lakes)
4 Caleb Sapp (Opp, 6-8, 2006, Upland, Calif., Claremont High School, Southern California)
8 Ryan Gant (S, 6-5, 2006, Newport Beach, Calif., Corona del Mar High School, Southern California)
9 Jack Mally (OH, 6-6, 2005, Geneva, Ill., Geneva High School, Great Lakes)
10 Isaiah Preuitt (MB, 6-8, 2005, Portland, Ore., Central Catholic High School, Columbia Empire)
18 Gaige Gabriel (MB, 6-8, 2005, Birdsboro, Pa., Exeter Township High School, Keystone)
20 Grant Lamoureux (OH, 6-9, 2007, Clemmons, N.C., West Forsyth High School, Carolina)

U.S. Schedule for the 2023 FIVB Boys U19 World Championship
Matches will be shown on the Volleyball World YouTube channel
All times PDT

Aug. 3 USA def. Costa Rica, 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-15)
Aug. 4 USA def. Egypt, 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 26-24
Aug. 5 at 5 p.m. USA vs Argentina
Aug. 6 at 2 p.m. USA vs Serbia
Aug. 8 Round of 16 and classification playoffs
Aug. 9 Quarterfinals, Round of 16, classification playoffs and
Aug. 10 Semifinals and classification playoffs
Aug. 11 Finals and classification matches