Long Beach State outside attacker Sebastiano Sani left no doubt that the United States would leave the U21 NORCECA Pan American Cup with the gold medal.
Sani finished with a match-high 15 kills on a .321 attack percentage as the United States defeated Canada 26-24, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18 in the gold-medal match on Sunday in Canada.
Sani opened the championship match leading all players with four kills in the first game. The junior also contributed nine kills in the final two games to help the United States finish the tournament undefeated.
UCLA setter Trent Taliaferro in the final game guided the U.S. offense to an errorless performance and a match-high .545 attack percentage.
The United States for the match out-hit Canada .277 to .164 and had four players with more than five kills.
Hawai’i opposite Kainoa Wade contributed 10 kills and had a game-high five kills in the fourth game. UC Santa Barbara outside attacker had nine kills, while Hawai’i incoming transfer Trevell Jordan added seven kills on a .429 attack percentage.
Along with the offensive performance, Sani led all players defensively with 10 digs.
UC Irvine middle attacker Micah Goss finished with a match-high four blocks, including having the game-winning block in the first-game overtime.
Jordan, Guy and Sani each added two blocks to the United States finish with 11 blocks – four more blocks than Canada.
Long Beach State pin-hitter Daniil Hershtynovich in the loss had a team-high 14 kills. Hershtynovich, though, was the only Canadian player to have double-digit kills.
Canada was limited to a zero attack percentage in the opening game and did not hit more than .200 in three of four games.
Canada was the only team to take a set from the United States throughout the entire tournament. The United States entered the finals going 5-0 in pool-play with four sweeps and a four-game victory against Canada.