Men's U21 Team Sweeps Barbados at 2025 Pan Am Cup

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 6, 2025) – The U.S. Men’s U21 National Team earned its second win as many days with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-14) victory over Barbados on Wednesday at the 2025 NORCECA U21 Men’s Pan American Cup in Calgary, Canada.

The U.S. (2-0) faces host Canada (1-0) tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 7, at 6 p.m. PT.

The U.S. finished with a double-digit advantage in kills (47-32), while doubling up Barbados in blocks (10-5) and serving three of the four aces in the match. The U.S. continued its torrid offense, hitting .443 with its 47 kills and only 12 errors in 79 attacks.

Marek Turner led all scorers with 18 points on a team-high 13 kills and match-best five blocks. Riggs Guy contributed 13 points on 12 kills and a block, and Victor Loiola totaled 11 points on seven kills, a block, and all three of the team’s aces.

Libero Johnny Dykstra paced the team with nine successful receptions and shared the team lead with four digs in his first international start. Loiola finished with seven successful receptions and Guy added six. Setter Jacob Little-Phillips ran the effective U.S. offense in his first international start and recorded a kill.

Middle blocker Joshua Aruya rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points on eight kills and two aces. Middle Tre Jordan totaled seven points on six kills and an ace.

“(Barbados) really put up a fight and came back in the second set,” Jordan said. “You could tell they really wanted it. We just went back to the basics and put it away. Everyone played really well, and we are playing to our best right now. Can’t wait for tomorrow.”

In the first set, Little-Phillips scored on a setter dump to put the U.S. ahead 12-7, and Loiola followed with a block for a six-point lead. Barbados pulled within three points, 15-12, before a Turner kill and a hitting error extended the lead back to five points and led to a Barbados timeout.

Barbados went on a 4-1 run to reduce the margin to two points, 18-16, when Turner scored again. The U.S. benefited from the sixth Barbados error to take a 22-17 lead before a timeout. Jordan scored, and after Barbados mishandled a Loiola serve, Turner registered a kill for set point. Guy ended the set on a block. Turner scored six points on kills in the set. Loiola and Guy each totaled four points on three kills and a block.

Trailing 9-7 in the second set, the U.S. scored five of the next six points to take a 12-10 lead with a Loiola ace tying the set at nine. Barbados came back to tie the set four times. With the score tied at 17 apiece, a Turner block and three hitting errors gave the U.S. a four-point advantage.

Barbados pulled back within a point, 22-21, but an Aruya block made it 23-21. A Barbados block evened the set at 23-23, leading to a U.S. timeout. Guy scored on a kill on the next play and after a Barbados timeout, Aruya ended the set with his second block and seventh point of the set. Jordan added four points on three kills and a block.

Turner got off to a hot start in the third set, producing four kills and two blocks to propel the U.S. to an 8-1 lead. Loiola’s second ace of the set and a Jordan kill made it 10-1, completing an 8-0 run. More Turner kills gave the U.S. 12-point leads at 18-6 and 19-7. Back-to-back kills by Guy raised the margin to a match-high 13 points, 23-10. Barbados scored four of the next five points before Loiola ended the match with a kill. Turner scored 10 points on seven kills and three blocks, and Guy added seven kills.

2025 Men’s U21 National Team

Name (Pos., Height, Hometown, School/Club, USAV Region)

1 Kellen Larson (L, 5-9, Irvine, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
5 Marek Turner (OH, 6-6, Long Beach, Calif., Team Rockstar, Southern California)
6 Victor Loiola (OH, 6-4, Manhattan Beach, Calif., N/A, Southern California)
7 Trent Taliaferro (S, 6-5, San Clemente, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
8 Jacob Little-Phillips (S, 6-2, Winter Park, Fla., Winter Park HS, Florida Region)
9 Tre Jordan (MB, 6-10, Mesa, Ariz., Grand Canyon, Arizona)
10 Johnny Dykstra (L, 6-2, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Univ. of Southern California, Southern California)
15 Joshua Aruya (MB, 6-9, Mission Viejo, Calif., UC Santa Barbara, Southern California)
17 Riggs Guy (OH, 6-3, Newport Beach, Calif., UC Santa Barbara, Southern California/Southern Nevada)
18 Kainoa Wade (OPP, 6-10, Kailua, Hawaii, Univ. of Hawaii, Aloha Region)
22 Sebastiano Sani (OH, 6-8, Aliso Viejo, Calif., Long Beach State, Chesapeake)
23 Micah Goss (MB, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine, Southern California)

Alternates
2 Roan Alviar (L, 5-11, Hayward, Calif., Princeton, Northern California)
4 Aidan Klein (MB, 6-10, Evanston, Ill., Loyola Chicago, Great Lakes)
11 Finn Kearney (OH, 6-5, Phoenix, Ariz., Univ. of Hawaii, Arizona)
14 Justin Todd (MB, 6-7, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Hawaii, Aloha)
19 Grayson Bradford (OPP, 6-11, Redondo Beach, Calif., Mira Costa HS, Southern California)
24 Kahale Clini (OH, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)

Coaches
Head Coach: John Hawks (UCLA)
Assistant Coach: Donan Cruz (Ball State)
Assistant Coach: Matthew Pollock (Pepperdine)
Performance Analyst: Thomas Shaffer (Loyola Chicago)
Athletic Trainer: Hazel Peterson (USOPTC)
Team Lead: Brandon Oswald (NTDP)

Schedule

All times Pacific

Aug. 5: USA def. Chile, 3-0 (25-15 25-14, 25-15)
Aug. 6: USA def. Barbados, 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-14)
Aug. 7: USA vs. Canada, 6 p.m.
Aug. 8: USA vs. Mexico, 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 9: USA vs. Puerto Rico, 3:30 p.m.
Aug. 10: Medal Matches and Classification