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For all the hype Tread Rosenthal running the U.S. offense, it was the defense that was on full display.
The Hawai’i setter finished with a match-high four blocks as the United States swept Egypt 25-14, 25-18, 26-24 at the FIVB U19 World Championship on Friday in Argentina.
Rosenthal delivered their final block in the third-game overtime to set up a match-point opportunity. Outside attacker Finn Kearey on the next play then had a walk-off ace to secure the pool-play victory and earn a berth to the Round of 16.
The United States had four players with multiple blocks and ended with 16 blocks – 12 blocks more than Egypt. This was the second consecutive match to open the tournament that the United States had double-digit blocks.
Along with Rosenthal, Princeton middle attacker Tristan Whitfield and middle attacker Caiden Carreira each had four blocks against Egypt. Carreira also had three of their blocks in the final game.
The United States out-hit Egypt .326 to .102, including limiting Egypt to a negative attack percentage in the opening game.
Princeton commit Sean Kelly had a match-high 13 kills and zero errors on a match-best .619 attack percentage with seven of those kills coming in the final game. In addition, USC commit Serling Foley contributed 13 kills and hit .333 to help the United States remain undefeated in pool-play.
Hamza Awad in the loss led Egypt with 11 kills, while Shrief Helawy contributed nine kills but was held to a .040 attack percentage.
Long Beach State libero Kellen Larson defensively led all players with 18 digs. Larson now has a combined 39 digs through the first two U.S. matches.
The United States with this win remains in second place in Pool A and will next play first-place Argentina on Saturday.
Both the United States and Argentina are the only two remaining undefeated teams in Pool A. Argentina opened pool-play with sweeps against Costa Rica and Serbia