COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 27, 2016) – After helping the U.S. win the 2014 NORCECA U19 Continental Championship, four players named to the 2016 U.S. Men’s Junior National Team will try to win a second title for their country.
Joshua Tuaniga, Jordan Ewert, Scott Stadick and Joe Worsley will be joined by George Huhmann, Kyle Ensing, Michael Wexter, Reese Devilbiss, Jack Cole, Matt Douglas, Austin Matautia and Dylan Missry.
The Men’s Junior National Team will compete July 3-11 at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.
“I like this team a lot. Having seen them compete for the last week against each other, they work very hard, and do not let the ball drop without a dogfight to get it up. We have some pretty big guys in this gym, but we also have some smaller guys, with huge cannons for arms,” Head Coach Jay Hosack said.
The team’s outside hitters are Devilbiss, Matautia and Missry. Ensing and Wexter have been selected as the opposite hitters.
Middle blockers on the team are Huhmann, Stadick and Cole, while Tuaniga and Worsley have been named the setters. Douglas will anchor the defense at libero.
Huhmann, Ensing, Wexter and Devilbiss joined Tuaniga, Ewert, Stadick and Worsley on the 2015 Boys’ Youth National Team that finished seventh at the FIVB U19 World Championships.
“Some of them have played together on the youth team, and some are new. But all are working together to earn a gold medal at the NORCECA championships. We have guys from all over the country, representing many regions. That says a lot about the quality of the boys club programs, and just how much boys volleyball is increasing its caliber across the country,” Hosack said.
Hosack is the men’s volleyball head coach at George Mason University. Assisting him with the MJNT are Jonah Carson, a coach at Mountain View Volleyball Club, and Matt McCarthy who is the associate head coach for Lewis University’s men’s volleyball team. Virginia Pham, a former graduate assistant at Virginia Commonwealth University, will serve as the team’s statistician.
The selected athletes were chosen from the 19-man Men’s Junior Training Team roster, which was named following nation-wide tryouts held from January through March earlier this year.
Name (Position, Height, College, Hometown, Region)
Jack Cole (Middle Blocker, 6-6, Pepperdine University, Lafayette, California, NCVA)
Reese Devilbiss (Outside Hitter, 6-2, Ohio State University, Mount Wolf, Pennsylvania, Keystone)
Matt Douglas (Libero, 5-10, USC, Pacific Palisades, California, Southern California)
Kyle Ensing (Opposite, 6-7, Long Beach State, Valencia, California, SCVA)
Jordan Ewert (Outside Hitter, 6-5, Stanford University, Antioch, California, NCVA)
George Huhmann (Middle Blocker, 6-10, Princeton University, High Ridge, Missouri, Gateway)
Austin Matautia (Outside Hitter, 6-5, University of Hawaii Manoa, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Aloha)
Dylan Missry (Outside Hitter, 6-4, UCLA, Holbrook, New York, Garden Empire)
Scott Stadick (Middle Blocker, 7-0, UC Irvine, Watertown, Wisconsin, Badger)
Joshua Tuaniga (Setter, 6-2, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach, California, SCVA)
Michael Wexter (Opposite, 6-6, Pepperdine University, New Lenox, Illinois, Great Lakes)
Joe Worsley (Setter, 6-0, University of Hawaii, Moraga, California, NCVA)
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