Off the Block

Category: Division I-II

  • UCLA’s Quiroga leads Argentina to beat, eliminate USA at World Championship

    The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team’s hopes of getting a medal at the World Championship are officially finished.

    No. 9 United States lost to No. 1 Argentina 25-20, 25-19, 28-26 on Sunday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for its second consecutive loss in pool play and failed to advance to the second round of the international tournament.

    With this loss, the United States (1-2, 1-2 Pool A) finishes Pool A in third place and will move to the tournament’s consolation pool that will begin Tuesday. Argentina (2-1, 2-1 Pool A) and Bulgaria finished the first round atop the Pool A standings and receive the pool’s two berths to the second round.
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  • Youth World Championship volleyball match to follow today: USA vs. Argentina

    The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team will have to defeat the world’s top-ranked team if it wants to remain in contention for a World Championship medal.

    No. 9 United States will play a must-win match against No. 1 Argentina in its pool-play finale on Sunday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    The winner of this match will finish Pool A in second place and advance to the second round of the World Championship, while the loser will move to the consolation bracket. The two top teams in each pool at the end of the three-match pool-play round advance to the second round.
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  • USA beats Norway in World Games finale to finish in 13th place

    The match wasn’t for a medal, but the United States at least finished the World University Games with a victory.

    The United States defeated Norway 25-19, 23-25, 25-16, 25-14 on Sunday in Shenzhen, China, to finish the 21-team international tournament in 13th place.

    The United States (5-3) had three players finish the match with at least nine kills — including UC Irvine outside attacker Carson Clark who had a match-high 18 kills.
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  • Errors lead to potentially devastating loss for USA at World Championship

    Two days into the World Championship and the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team is on the brink of being eliminated from medal contention.

    No. 9 United States lost its pool-play match against No. 15 Bulgaria 25-22, 27-29, 25-16, 25-20 on Saturday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and dropped into third place in Pool A.

    The top two teams in each pool following the three-match pool-play round receive berths to the second round of the World Championship.
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  • Youth World Championship volleyball match to follow today: USA vs. Bulgaria

    The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team will not get much rest following its epic five-game World Championship match.

    No. 9 United States will play No. 15 Bulgaria on Saturday in its second pool-play match less than 24 hours after winning its almost three-hour pool-play opener against No. 10 Egypt.

    The United States and Bulgaria are tied for first place in Pool A. The top two teams in each pool following the three-match pool-play round will advance to the second round of the World Championship.
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  • UC Irvine’s Clark leads USA to victory against Sweden at World Games

    UC Irvine outside attacker Carson Clark came through for the United States and helped the team avoid the dubious title of finishing in the bottom five at the World University Games.

    Clark had a match-high 16 kills as the United States defeated Sweden 25-21, 24-26, 25-10, 27-25 in the semifinals match for 13th place on Saturday in Shenzhen, China.

    With the victory, the United States (4-3) is guaranteed at least a 14th-place finish in the 21-team international tournament. The United States will play the winner of the semifinals match between Mexico and Norway in the consolation match for 13th place on Sunday.
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  • Tarantino, Caldwell power USA pass Egypt in marathon match at World Championship

    It took awhile — longer than any match at the tournament — but the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team finally won its pool-play opener at the World Championship.

    In a match lasting almost three hours, No. 9 United States avoided blowing a two-game lead and defeated No. 10 Egypt 25-16, 25-21, 27-29, 34-36, 17-15 on Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    The two-hour-and-32-minute match was the longest match during the first day of the international tournament by more than 30 minutes. In addition, no other World Championship match had three games go into overtime, and the 70 combined points in the fourth game was the longest single-game so far in the tournament.
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  • USA loses to Japan, can finish no higher than 13th at World Games

    The nightmare at the World University Games for the United States just got a little bit worse.

    After failing to qualify for the quarterfinals, the United States lost its consolation bracket opener to Japan 25-20, 23-25, 28-30, 25-21, 15-11 on Friday in Shenzhen, China. The United States can now finish no better than 13th place at the 16-team international tournament.

    The United States entered the biannual tournament after winning the bronze medal at its last World University Games in 2007. However, the United States (3-3) lost two of its final three pool-play matches to fail to advance out of the preliminary round at this year’s tournament.
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  • No. 9 USA to play No. 10 Egypt today in opener at Youth World Championship

    Nine incoming freshmen men’s volleyball recruits will begin their attempt to win a gold medal for the United States at a prestigious international tournament.

    No. 9 United States will open the Boys’ Volleyball Youth World Championship with a pool-play match against No. 10 Egypt at 5 p.m. (EST) Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    The United States qualified for this 16-team tournament after reaching the championship match at the 2010 Youth NORCECA Championship before losing to Cuba to finish with the silver medal. The team also won the bronze medal at the Pan American Cup in June.
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  • Trojan duo bounced from World Games beach volleyball tournament

    Two USC players’ run at the World University Games beach volleyball tournament ended two matches short of a medal.

    The United States team of Trojans outside attacker Tony Ciarelli and setter Jeff Carlson lost two matches Wednesday in Shenzhen, China to be eliminated from the international tournament.

    Ciarelli and Carlson opened the day losing their fourth-round match to Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz 26-24, 21-16. The loss dropped the U.S. pair into the consolation bracket, where they lost their next match to Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Yury Bogatov 21-19, 21-15 and finished the tournament tied for fifth place.
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