Long Beach State middle attacker Jackson Cryst made his presence felt at the net right from the opening play.
Cryst had back-to-back blocks on the first two plays of the match and finished with a match-high four blocks as the United States swept Mexico 25-23, 25-15, 25-19 at the U21 Pan American Cup in Guatemala.
The United States in this pool-play finale between two undefeated teams has 11 blocks – 10 more blocks than Mexico. In addition, the United States with this victory clinched the pool title and a bye to the semifinals.
Cryst was one of three U.S. players with multiple blocks against Mexico. UCLA pin-hitter Grayson Bradford coming off the bench in the third game had two blocks, while UC Irvine setter Cameron Kosty contributed two blocks.
Kosty guided the U.S. offense to out-hit Mexico .420 to .165, including the team having a match-best .667 attack percentage and no errors in the second game.
The United States finished with a tournament-low six attack errors and had two attack errors through the first two games.
Hawai’i opposite Kainoa Wade led the United States with nine kills on a .444 attack percentage. USC outside attacker Blake Fahlbusch also had eight kills, and Stanford outside attacker Aleksey Mikhailenko added seven kills.
Pin-hitters Cristian Fernando Cadena Avalos and Eduardo Abraham Garza Covarrubias in the loss led all players with 12 kills against the United States.