Follow
UC Irvine middle attacker Scott Stadick delivered his best offensive and defensive performance to snap the U.S. losing streak at the FIVB U21 World Championship.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Freshman All-American led all players with six blocks and had a tournament-high 10 kills as the United States rallied to beat the host-nation Czech Republic 25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 25-18, 15-7 on Wednesday.
With this second-record victory, the United States (1-4, 1-1 Pool G, 2 points) ends a four-match losing streak to open the tournament. It also remains in contention for a possible top-10 finish at the World Championship.
“I’m glad for my boys. I’m glad they got the W,” U.S. coach Jay Hosack said in a postmatch interview with USA Volleyball. “1-4 doesn’t sound great, but if people only knew how tough this tournament is, 1-4 is no easy task.”
Stadick finished with a .615 attack percentage to help the United States hit at a better offensive efficiency than the Czech Republic at 48.9 percent to 42.0 percent.
Long Beach State opposite Kyle Ensing in the victory led all players with a tournament-high 20 kills on a 54.1 percent offensive efficiency. The All-American committed one attack error throughout the entire match and had a game-high four kills in the decisive fifth game, including the match-winning kill.
This was the third match at the World Championship that Ensing finished with double-digit kills. He also entered this second-round match already in the tournament’s top 25 for kills.
Ensing and Stadick were two of the three U.S. players to have double-digit kills against the Czech Republic (1-4, 0-1 Pool G, 1 point).
Stanford outside attacker Jordan Ewert ended with 13 kills on a 41.9 percent offensive efficiency. In addition, Princeton middle attacker George Huhmann contributed nine kills and had one attack error.
Along with their offensive performances, Ewert and Ensing each had 10 digs in the victory.
Hawai’i libero Gage Worsley led all players with a tournament-high 20 digs.
UCLA All-American setter Micah Ma’a despite not starting also had a significant effect on the match from the serving line.
Ma’a finished with a team-high two aces. In addition, both of those aces were part of a 9-2 run for the United States to open the fifth game.
Czech Republic opposite Matej Smidl in the loss finished with a team-high 16 kills.
Outside attacker Donovan Dzavoronok also contributed eight kills and a team-high two aces. This was the first match back for Dzavoronok after suffering an injury earlier in the tournament.
“I got to give a lot of credit to the Czech Republic,” Hosack said. “Their better outside attacker was down with an ankle roll a couple days ago, and within 48 hours that kid came out and played.”
The United States following this victory moves into sole possession of third place in Pool G and one point behind second-place Egypt for the pool’s final berth to the ninth-place semifinals. These two teams will play each other in their second-round finale on Thursday with the winner advancing to the ninth-place semifinals.
Italy (3-2, 2-0 Pool G, 6 points) after sweeping against Egypt (1-4, 1-1 Pool G, 3 points) on Wednesday clinched one of the two Pool G berths to the ninth-place semifinals.