Middle attacker Isiah Powell in overtime put an emphatic end to the tournament opener.
Powell delivered a walk-off block in the fourth-game overtime to finish with a match-high eight blocks as the United States defeated Venezuela 20-25, 25-18, 25-16, 32-30 on Tuesday in Mexico at the U19 NORCECA Pan American Cup.
The Penn State commit after being limited to one block in the first two games had three blocks as part of an 8-0 run to open the third game. Powell also led all players with four blocks in the fourth game highlighted with the block on the eighth U.S. match-point opportunity.
Along with the defensive performance, Powell contributed eight kills on a .583 attack percentage and had four kills in the final game of the pool-play opener.
Setter Brett Novak guided the U.S. offense to out-hit Venezuela .412 to .200, including the team having a match-best .619 attack percentage in the second game.
BYU commit Corbin Batista led the United States with 13 kills on a .478 attack percentage. USC commit Balke Fahlbush had nine kills and did not commit an attack error, while Logan Hutnick contributed nine kills.
Pin-hitter Gandy Lugo Materan in the loss had a match-high 14 kills and was one of three Venezuela players with double-digit kills.
The United States finished with 15 blocks – 12 more blocks than Venezuela. Along with Powell, Ball State commit Dante Cayaban added two blocks against Venezuela.
The United States with this pool-play victory moves into second place in Group A and will play first-place Canada on Wednesday. Canada swept Puerto Rico in its pool-play opener on Tuesday.