COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 31, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s Junior National Team will play for a bronze medal at the NORCECA U21 Championship after falling to the Dominican Republic, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-18 on Friday in Havana, Cuba.
The United States will play Canada or Cuba in Saturday’s third-place match, scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. Only the tournament winner will qualify for the 2019 FIVB U21 World Championship.
The United States led the match statistically in kills (48-47), blocks (8-2) and aces (7-6). However Dominican Republic scored 42 points on U.S. errors while committing 27.
Outside hitter J.P. Reilly led the U.S. scoring effort with 17 points on 13 kills, two blocks and two aces.
“We knew we were coming in to a big fight,” Reilly said. “We saw that Dominican Republic has some big guys and knew it was going to be a tough match.”
Opposite Jaylen Jasper scored 16 points on 13 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitter Devin Joslyn added 13 points on a match-high four aces, one block and eight kills.
Dominican outside hitter Bayron Valdez led all scorers with 31 points on 30 kills and one ace.
“In order to be great at this tournament, you have to play good volleyball for a long time,” U.S. Head Coach Jonah Carson said. “Tonight, we had difficulty sustaining a high level in terms of our serve receive and our defensive efforts.
“Serve and defense go hand-in-hand and we were not great in that phase of the game.”
U.S. STARTERS VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Outside hitters: J.P. Reilly and Devin Joslyn
Middle blockers: Sam Lewis and Kyler Presho
Opposite: Jaylen Jasper
Setter: Blake Crisp
Libero: Garland Peed
Substitutes: Luke Denton (Opp), Kevin Lamp (OH), Joe Kelly (S)
U.S. STATISTICS VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Kills: Reilly 13, Jasper 13, Joslyn 8, Lewis 7, Presho 5, Crisp 2
Blocks: Jasper 2, Reilly 2, Lewis 2, Denton 1, Joslyn 1
Aces: Joslyn 4, Reilly 2, Jasper 1
U.S. Men’s Junior National Team Roster
Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
2 Blake Crisp (S, 6-3, Westlake Village, Calif., Signed to UC San Diego)
3 Luke Denton (Opp, 6-6, Mesa, Ariz., Signed to Loyola Chicago)
7 Jaylen Jasper (Opp, 6-8, Annapolis, Md., Stanford)
8 Devin Joslyn (OH, 6-6, Angola, N.Y., Loyola Chicago)
10 Kevin Lamp (OH, 6-4, Lake Bluff, Ill., Committed to Stanford)
11C Sam Lewis (MB, 6-10, Long Beach, Calif., USC)
12 J.T. Martin (MB, 6-8, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Signed to Pepperdine)
14 Spencer Olivier (OH, 6-6, Tustin, Calif., Long Beach State)
15 Garland Peed V (L, 6-2, San Diego, Calif., UCLA)
16 Kyler Presho (MB, 6-8, San Clemente, Calif., Stanford)
19 J.P. Reilly (OH, 6-5, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Stanford)
22 Joe Kelly (S, 6-2, El Segundo, Calif., Princeton)
Head Coach: Jonah Carson (USAV High Performance and Mountain View Volleyball Club)
Assistant Coach: Kris Berzins (USAV High Performance and D1 Volleyball Club)
Assistant Coach: Sam Shweisky (Princeton University men’s volleyball)
Team Manager: Aldis Berzins (Stevenson University Men’s Volleyball)
Technical Coordinator: Jeremy DeRoche
Team Doctor: Denise Wunderler
Preliminary Phase Schedule:
(All times ET)
Aug. 27
Dominican Republic def Barbados, 25-21. 25-21, 25-18
Canada def Haiti, 25-14, 25-17, 25-18
United States def Nicaragua, 25-23, 25-15, 25-15
Cuba def Guatemala, 25-17, 25-18, 25-13
Aug. 28
Dominican Republic def Guatemala, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22
Canada def Nicaragua, 25-16, 25-20, 25-15
United States def Haiti, 25-20, 25-18, 25-17
Cuba v Barbados, 25-13, 25-17, 25-11
Aug. 29
Barbados def Guatemala, 29-27, 19-25, 25-23, 25-17
Nicaragua def Haiti, 25-17, 17-25, 25-20, 25-13
United States def Canada, 25-14, 23-25, 25-23, 26-24
Cuba def Dominican Republic, 26-24, 25-19, 25-17
Aug. 30
Quarterfinals
Dominican Republic def Nicaragua, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17
Canada def Barbados, 25-13, 25-14, 25-20
Aug. 31
Classification
Guatemala def Nicaragua, 25-22, 25-21, 25-16
Haiti def Barbados, 14-25, 25-23, 18-25, 31-29, 15-10
Semifinals
Dominican Republic def United States, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-18
Cuba vs Canada
Sept. 1
Classification
Noon: Nicaragua vs Barbados
2 p.m.: Guatemala vs Haiti
Bronze
4 p.m. USA v Canada/Cuba
Gold
6 p.m. Dominican Republic v Canada/Cuba