U.S. U19 Beach Teams Go 5-0 on Day 1 of Worlds

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 15, 2022) – U.S. beach teams went 5-0 on the first day of main draw pool play at the FIVB U19 World Championships in Dikili, Türkiye.

The U.S. girls teams of Myriah Massey/Ashley Pater, seeded second, and Sophie Kubiak/Bailey Showalter, seeded 32^nd, each won two pool play matches on Thursday.

“’Look good, feel good, play good.’ This quote helped me during this match,” Pater said of their 2-0 win over Ukraine. “Wearing USA gear is something not everyone gets to experience. Having the opportunity to be in this uniform makes me fee good and ready to perform to my max.”

After her pair’s 2-0 win over Bolivia, Massey said, “It feels good to win. We are looking forward to tomorrow and the days to follow.”

The boys team of Ayden Keeter/Tread Rosenthal, seeded 11^th, went 1-0 on Thursday.

“That was a good starting game,” Keeter said of his team’s 2-1 win over Japan. “We didn’t play well in the first set. But we made adjustments and came out on top in the third set.

“I am looking forward to playing these other countries and seeing their playing styles and adjusting to them. Ever country plays a little bit differently.”

For each gender, there are eight pools of four teams. The best three ranked teams in each pool will advance to the Round of 24. Pool play will conclude on Friday.

Thursday’s Results
Girls Pool A
Kubiak/Showalter USA def Ecem Aksoy/Doga Ocal TUR, 2-0 (21-11, 21-17)
Kubiak/Showalter USA def Denisse Alvarez/Fiorella Nunez Quintana PAR. 2-0 (23-21, 21-19)

Girls Pool B
Massey/Pater USA def Kateryna Udovenko/Taisiia Kalchenko UKR, 2-0 (21-13, 21-130
Massey/Pater USA def Romina Martínez Castro/Jeisy Velasquez BOL, 2-0 (21-8, 21-11)

Boys Pool F
Keeter/Rosenthal USA def Kota Kurosawa/Teruki Ryujin JPN, 2-1 (18-21, 25-23, 15-9)

Upcoming Matches
Boys Pool F
Thursday, Sept. 15 at 10:30 p.m. PT
Keeter/Rosenthal USA vs Ramiro Sancer Marcos/Ezequiel Gonzalez ARG
Friday Sept. 16 at 5:10 a.m. PT
Keeter/Rosenthal USA vs Timo Hammarberg/Tim Berger AUT

Girls Pool A
Friday, Sept. 16 at 4:20 a.m. PT
Kubiak/Showalter USA vs Lia Berger/Emma Hohenauer AUT

Girls Pool B
Friday, Sept. 16 at 2:40 a.m. PT
Massey/Pater USA vs Annika Berndt/Janne Uhl GER

Matches are being livestreamed on VolleyballWorld.tv.

U.S. Team for the Beach U19 World Championship
GIRLS
Name (Height, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
Sophie Kubiak (5-7, Louisville, Colo., Stanford, Rocky Mountain)
Myriah Massey (5-10, Pickerington, Ohio, Pickerington Central HS, Ohio Valley)
Ashley Pater (5-8, Bradenton, Fla., Univ. of Southern California, Florida)
Bailey Showalter (6-1, Snoqualmie, Wash., Univ. of Southern California, Puget Sound)

BOYS
Name (Height, Hometown, School, USAV Region)
Caleb Blanchette (6-5, Brentwood, Tenn., Ravenwood HS, Southern)
Thomas Hurst (6-3, Plano, Texas, University Prep, North Texas)
Ayden Keeter (6-2, Yorktown, Va., Webber International, Old Dominion)
Tread Rosenthal (6-7, Manhattan Beach, Calif./Austin, Texas, La Vista HS, Southern California)