Loyola incoming recruit Ben Plaisted made the most of the U.S. coaching staff’s decision to put him in the starting lineup.
Plaisted had a match-high 12 kills as the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team swept the host nation El Salvador 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the NORCECA U-21 Continental Championships.
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A storm hit that blew the United States right past Mexico and into the NORCECA quarterfinals.
BYU incoming recruit Storm Faagata-Tufuga had a match-high 18 kills as the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team beat Mexico 25-18, 25-21, 17-25, 25-11 on Thursday in El Salvador to clinch a quarterfinals berth in the NORCECA U-21 Continental Championships.
Cuba made sure the United States would not have an easy path to defending its NORCECA title.
The United States suffered its first loss of the NORCECA U-21 Continental Championship as it was swept by Cuba 25-13, 25-16, 25-18 on Wednesday in El Salvador.
Brenden Sander after watching his older brother win the FIVB World League most valuable player made the most of his own international debut.
The BYU incoming freshman recruit had a match-high six kills and two aces as the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team swept Nicaragua 25-12, 25-13, 25-20 on Tuesday in El Salvador to open the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship.
The championship hopes will end short of the medal podium for the U.S. pair of Harvard outside attacker Branden Clemens and UCLA outside attacker Jackson Bantle.
Clemens and Bantle lost to the Norway’s Christian Sandlie Sorum and Hendrik Nikolai Mol H 21-13, 21-15 in the second round of the FIVB Beach U-21 World Championships on Saturday in Larnaka, Cyprus, to be eliminated from the international tournament.
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The U.S. roster is set for the tournament that will determine if the country qualifies for the 2015 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship.
USA Volleyball announced its 12-player roster that includes two Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Freshman All-American Team selections for the upcoming NORCECA Men’s U-21 Continental Championship.
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USC setter Micah Christenson will be returning to campus with a gold medal.
Christenson had a match-high two aces and guided the United States offense as it defeated Brazil 31-29, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23 on Sunday in Florence, Italy to win the nation’s first FIVB World League championship in six years.
When John Speraw was first introduced as the U.S. Men’s National Team head coach one year ago he said in his opening news conference the team would get younger and he would use the FIVB World League to experiment with his roster.
The youth movement and all the roster experiments have now paid off to the United States being one win away from a FIVB World League gold medal.
Coach Dan Friend is faced with a big challenge even before his U.S. Men’s Junior National Team arrives at the NORCECA Tournament in the upcoming weeks.
Friend said in an interview Off the Block earlier this week that trying to cut the U.S. roster down to 12 players has become increasingly difficult because of the high-level of play during the team’s training session.
The playoff run for a Cal State Northridge player is over at a beach volleyball world championship match.
Alex Jones and Kyle Stevenson lost to Norway’s Lars Fredrik Tvinde and Hendrik Nikolai Mol 21-15, 21-15 in the first round of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships on Friday in Poland.
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