Men's U21 Team Tops Dominican Republic in Pan Am Cup Quarterfinals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 8, 2023) – The U.S. Men’s U21 National Team defeated Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals of the NORCECA U21 Pan American Cup on Wednesday 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-10) in Havana, Cuba.

MATCH STATISTICS (PDF)

After dropping the first set, 22-25, the U.S. team trailed 15-17 in the second set before going on a 7-0 run to take a 22-17 lead and eventually win the set, 25-19.

The U.S. squad began the third set on a 10-4 run (marking a 20-6 run from the end of the second set to the beginning of the third set) and took the third set, 25-15, to take a 2-1 lead. The U.S. clinched the match by rolling to a 25-10 victory in the fourth set.

“Dominican came out and played a very strong first set and we were on our heels,” U.S. head coach Andy Read said. “At the end of the set, we started to play much better and continued that on the rest of the match. We didn’t start well, but we were able to sustain good volleyball longer.”

Opposite Trent Moser led the U.S. with 16 kills, four service aces, and a .542 hitting efficiency through the four sets. As a team, the U.S. had a .471 hitting efficiency.

Outside hitter Alex Rottman contributed 10 kills, while hitting .444, and shared the team lead with middle blocker Owen Rose with three blocks. Rose added eight kills in nine attacks, and fellow middle hitter Nyherowo Omene was perfect on all six of his attacks.

“Today was a great match and Dominican Republic fought really hard,” said libero Ryan Merk. They served really well and in that first set, they got us off our game. After that first set, we started passing a lot better and everything started to click.”

The U.S. Men’s U21 National Team will return to the court tomorrow at 1 p.m. PT in the semifinals against Canada, which went undefeated in pool play.

“Canada will be tough. You don’t control what you win or lose. You do control how well you play,” Read said. “If we play well and Canada plays well, it will be a very good match. We would like to play round two (in the final against Cuba, the only team to defeat the U.S. in the tournament), but we have to do something before that.”

U.S. Roster for the 2023 Men’s U21 NORCECA Pan American Cup
No. Name (Position, Height, Birth year, Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Ryan Merk (L, 6-0, 2003, Chicago, Ill., Penn State, Great Lakes)
4 Dane Hillis (OH, 6-2, 2003, San Clemente, Calif., Long Beach State, Southern California)
7 Gabe Dyer (S, 6-5, 2003, San Clemente, Calif., UC San Diego, Southern California)
8 Kyle Teune (OH, 6-6, 2003, Downers Grove, Ill., Ohio State, Great Lakes)
10 Tyler Morgan (S, 6-7, 2003, Dike, Iowa, Lewis, Iowa)
13 Shane Wetzel (Opp, 6-7, 2004, Wekiwa Springs, Fla., Ohio State, Florida)
16 Nyherowo Omene (MB, 6-8, 2003, South Holland, Ill., Princeton, Great Lakes)
17 Trent Moser (OH, 6-8, 2003, Gilbert, Ariz., BYU, Arizona)
19 George Bruening (Opp, 6-10, 2004. Newport Beach, Calif., UCSB, Southern California)
22 Owen Rose (MB, 6-8, 2003, Long Island, N.Y., Penn State, Garden Empire)
23 Alex Rottman (OH, 6-7, 2004, Santa Barbara, Calif., Stanford, Southern California)
24 Micah Wong Diallo (MB, 6-9, 2004, Los Angeles, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)

Head Coach: Andy Read (Long Beach State)
Assistant Coach: Rory Prager (University of Southern California)
Assistant Coach: Taylor Hammond (UC San Diego)
Performance Analyst: Michael Bouril (Purdue)
ATC: Cherryl Bueno
Team Lead: Donovan Martinez (USAV NTDP)
International Referee: Michelle Prater (Southern Region)

Alternates
2 Christopher Connelly (L, 5-10, 2003, Naples, Fla., Long Beach State, Florida)
3 Jacob Reilly (L, 6-0, 2003, Cypress, Texas, Concordia University-Irvine, Aloha)
6 Island Doty (S, 6-5, 2003, Colorado Springs, Colo., Long Beach State, Rocky Mountain)
9 Ben Putnam (OH, 6-5, 2004, Needham, Mass., Ohio State, New England)
14 Nicodemus Meyer (MB, 6-10, 2003, Franklin, Wis., Loyola of Chicago, Badger)
15 Markus Olsson (MB, 6-8, 2003, Cupertino, Calif., Univ. of Southern California, Southern California
18 Patrick Rogers (OH, 6-7, 2004, Rutherford, N.J., St. Francis College, Garden Empire)
25 Theo Snoey (OH, 6-8, 2004, Berkeley, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)

U.S. Schedule for the 2023 Men’s U21 NORCECA Pan American Cup
All Times PDT

June 5  USA def. Nicaragua 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-8)
June 6 USA def. Guatemala 3-0 (32-30, 27-25, 25-21)
June 7 Cuba def. USA 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 11-15)
June 8 Quarterfinals: USA def. Dominican Republic 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-10)
June 9 Semifinals, 1 p.m.: USA vs. Canada
June 10
at 11 a.m. Bronze-medal match
at 1 p.m. Gold-medal match