The defensive performance from Hawai’i setter Tread Rosenthal turned out to be gold-medal quality.
Rosenthal finished with a match-high four blocks as the United States swept Canada 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 to win the gold medal at the NORCECA Final Six on Saturday in Puerto Rico.
Rosenthal was one four U.S. players to have multiple blocks, and the team finished the finals with 16 blocks – 13 more blocks than Canada. In addition, the United States limited Canada to a zero attack percentage or worse in two of the three games.
UCLA outside attacker Sean Kelly added four blocks, including back-to-back blocks as part of a 6-2 to close out the match and secure the gold medal. Former UCLA middle attacker Cameron Thorne added three blocks, while USC middle attacker Parker Tomkinson had two blocks.
Rosenthal along with the blocks guided the offense to out-hit Canada .333 to .025.
The United States committed four combined errors in the first two games. The team also finished the match with fewer attack errors than Canada had in the first game.
Former Ohio State outside attacker Jacob Pasteur had a team-high 10 kills and hit .364 to help the United States finish the tournament undefeated. Tomkinson contributed six kills and zero errors on a perfect 1.000 attack percentage.
Canada pin-hitter Arthur Szwarc in the loss finished with a match-high 11 kills.