Outside attacker Sean Kelly put the United States on the medal podium for the nation’s first time in the history of the FIVB U21 World Championship.
Kelly finished with a match-high 14 kills on .370 attack percentage as the United States swept Czechia 25-20, 25-19, 25-18 in the bronze-medal match on Sunday in China.
The UCLA sophomore led the United States with four kills in the final game, including back-to-back kills to close out the match and secure the bronze medal. Kelly also opened the match with a game-high five kills in the first game and committed a combined two attack errors in the final two games.
This was the sixth time in nine U21 World Championship matches that Kelly had double-digit kills. The outside attacker for the tournament led the United States and was in the top 20 among all players with 104 kills.
Along with the offensive performance, Kelly had both a match-high three blocks and two aces against Czechia.
Hawai’i setter Tread Rosenthal guided the U.S. offense to out-hit Czechia .467 to .232.
The United States had a combined three attack errors in the final two games. In addition, the team had a match-best .722 attack percentage in the third game.
Pepperdine opposite Cole Hartke finished with 10 kills and one attack error on a .500 attack percentage. Hawai’i incoming transfer Trevell Jordan added eight kills with attack errors and hit a team-best .889.
Czechia pin-hitter Matej Pastrnak in the loss had a team-high 12 kills. Pastrnak, though, was the only Czechia player to have more than five kills and hit more than .100.
This was the second time the United States reached the bronze-medal match at the bi-annual tournament. The United States did not have a top-10 finish at the U21 World Championship since its fourth-place finish in 2011.