COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 5, 2016) – The U.S. Men’s Junior National Team opened the 2016 NORCECA Under-21 Continental Championship with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 victory over Barbados on Tuesday in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.
The U.S. MJNT will conclude pool play on Thursday against St. Vincent. The event is a qualifier for the 2017 FIVB U21 World Championship in Brno, Czech Republic. Quarterfinals will be played July 8. The pool winners will go directly to the semifinals on July 9. The final matches will be July 10. The matches on July 8-10 are scheduled to be streamed live. That link will be posted when it is available.
“That is a better Barbados team than we have seen, so hats off to them,” U.S. Head Coach Jay Hosack said. “We felt fairly confident coming in and it was just a matter of cleaning stuff up on our side.
“Compared to some recent years when I have been involved (with the American team), we are a little bit bigger and a little bit cleaner. But Canada and Cuba (who are both in Group B) are really good teams and we have to fight hard to get through this thing.”
The U.S. did not allow Barbados to reach double digits before the second technical timeout of each set.
“We had some good rotations and got several guys taking some good swings (on attacks),” U.S. captain and setter Josh Tuaniga said. “We’ve all put in a lot of work to get here and compete for a bid (to the 2017 FIVB world championship).”
Every player on the 12-man U.S. roster started at least one set. Outside hitters Austin Matautia and Reese Devilbiss each started the second and third sets and each led the scoring with eight points each and each finished with seven kills.
Setter Joe Worsley, who started the second and third sets, led all players in blocks with three.
The U.S. scored 35 points on Barbados errors while committing 24. The U.S. hitting efficiency was .397 while Barbados’ was negative.
U.S. Starters vs. Barbado
Outside Hitters: Jordan Ewert and Dylan Missry
Middle Blockers: Scott Stadick and George Huhmann
Opposite: Kyle Ensing
Setter: Josh Tuaniga
Libero: Matt Douglas
U.S. Statistics vs. Barbados
Kills: Reese Devilbiss 7, Austin Matautia 7, Michael Wexter 5, George Huhmann 4, Jordan Ewert 3, Dylan Missry 2, Kyle Ensing 1, Joe Worsely 1, Scott Stadick 1
Blocks: Worsely 3, Missry 2, Ensing 1, Matautia 1, Jack Cole 1
Aces: Devilbiss 1
Digs: Missry 1, Devilbiss 1, Douglas 1
No. Name (Position, Height, College, Hometown, Region)
2. Kyle Ensing (Opposite, 6-7, Long Beach State, Valencia, California, SCVA)
4. Reese Devilbiss (Outside Hitter, 6-2, Ohio State University, Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania, Keystone)
5. Jack Cole (Middle Blocker, 6-6, Pepperdine University, Lafayette, California, NCVA)
6. George Huhmann (Middle Blocker, 6-10, Princeton University, High Ridge, Missouri, Gateway)
9. Scott Stadick (Middle Blocker, 7-0, UC Irvine, Watertown, Wisconsin, Badger)
10. Joshua Tuaniga (Setter, 6-2, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, California, SCVA)
12. Austin Matautia (Outside Hitter, 6-5, University of Hawaii Manoa, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Aloha)
13. Michael Wexter (Opposite, 6-6, Pepperdine University, New Lenox, Illinois, Great Lakes)
17. Joe Worsley (Setter, 6-0, University of Hawaii, Moraga, California, NCVA)
18. Matt Douglas (Libero, 5-10, USC, Pacific Palisades, California, Southern California)
19. Jordan Ewert (Outside Hitter, 6-5, Stanford University, Antioch, California, NCVA)
20. Dylan Missry (Outside Hitter, 6-4, UCLA, Holbrook, New York, Garden Empire)
Head Coach: Jay Hosack, George Mason University
Assistant Coach: Jonah Carson, Mountain View Volleyball Club
Assistant Coach: Matt McCarthy, Lewis University
Statistician: Virginia Pham, Virginia Commonwealth University
Schedule/Results
July 5: USA def Barbados, 25-15, 25-15, 25-16
July 6: USA v St. Vincent
July 7: Quarterfinals
July 8: Semifinals
July 9: Finals