United States and Canada Open With Sweeps at NORCECA U-21

2018 NORCECA U-21 Championships

• August 27-September 1
• La Habana, Cuba (Ciudad Deportiva)
• Tournament Preview
• Event Landing Page

Format Update:

In the span of about 2 days the NORCECA has updated the format of these U21 Chmpionships. Mexico is no longer participating in this edition of the tournament. With the tournament now consisting of 8 teams, they will be split into 2 pools of 4 instead of 3 pools of 3. The 1st place teams in each pool will qualify directly for the semifinals, and teams finishing 2nd or 3rd will move to the quarterfinals.

Pool A

• Barbados
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Guatemala

Pool

• Canada
• Haiti
• Nicaragua
• United States

Match Results – Pool A

• Dominican Republic def. Barbados 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18)
• Dominican Republic moves to 1-0; Barbados falls to 0-1

The Dominican Republic rode the arm of their captain, Bayron Pena, to a sweep over Barbados. Their captain led their team with 20 points on 16 kills, 1 block and 3 aces. He posted match-highs in both kills and aces while hitting .419.  Their next-highest scorer, Junior Jairo, finished with 8 points on 6 kills and 2 blocks. Adalberto Perez set the Dominican Republic to a .212 hitting percentage.

Barbados got 14 kills from Akeel Oxley. The outside hitter also chipped in a block and hit .346. Akeil Williams, middle blocker, scored 11 points on 6 kills, 1 ace, and a match-high 4 blocks.

Match Results – Pool B

• Canada def. Haiti 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-18)
• Canada jumps to 1-0; Haiti starts at 0-1

Canada got double-digit scoring from 3 different players in 3 different positions in their opening match on Monday. Xander Ketrzynski posted 13 points in the box score. The opposite led the match with 9 kills and 4 service aces. Middle blocker, Fynnian McCarthy also contributed 13 points in a winning effort. He led the match with 5 service aces in addition to his 2 blocks and 6 kills. Michael Dowhaniuk scored 12 points on 7 kills, 4 aces, and 1 block. Canada finished the match with a 40 -17 advantage in kills and a 15-3 advantage in service aces.

Philippe Jean was the only player from Haiti who produced double-digit points. His points came from 8 kills and 2 aces. Dimitri Edgar scored 6 points on 5 kills and 1 ace. Jospeh Orlando scored 3 points for Haiti on 2 kills and a block. Both Denilson Francois and Josmy Audate scored 1 point each.

Match Results – Pool B

• United States def. Nicaragua 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-15)
• United States starts at 1-0; Nicaragua falls to 0-1

The United States fought through a tough first set (in which they trailed on numerous occasions) and went on to cruise to an routine sweep of Nicaragua. Jaylen Jasper jumped out to make a quick impact. He averaged 6 points a set to finish as the match’s leading scorer with 18 points. The opposite from Stanford put away 15 kills, 2 blocks, and a service ace. His college teammate, J.P. Reilly, was right behind with 15 points on 12 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace.

Devin Joslyn led the match with 3 services aces to go along with 5 kills and 1 block on the outside. Captain Sam Lewis finished with a match-high 3 blocks in the middle. He also chipped in 6 kills to finish with 9 points. Kyler Presho had 8 points from the other middle blocker position on 5 kills, 2 blocks and a service ace. Blake Crisp did not get the start at setter, but came in during the first set to lead the team to a victory and a 43-27 advantage in kills.

Nicaragua did not have any players score in the double digits, but Jonny Zeledon led his team with 9 points on 8 kills and a block. Byron Hernandez was the next-highest producer for Nicaragua with 5 kills and 1 ace (his team’s only ace for the match). Diego Sandoval was right behind with 5 points on 5 kills.

Math Results – Pool A

• Cuba def. Guatemala 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-13)
• Cuba moves to 1-0: Guatemala drops to 0-1

Cuba opened the tournament with a very balanced attack. They used all 12 of the players on their roster with 10 of them scoring points. Jose Suarez led the way with 11 points on 8 kills, 1 block, and 2 aces. Julio Morales and Jose Gonzalez both contributed 10 points on the evening. Morales finished with 6 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces, while Gonzalez scored from 7 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Carlos Santana did not start any set for Cuba, but scored 6 points on 6 kills as a substitute.

Guatemala only received points from 3 of the players on their roster. Edgar Espina was their leading scorer with 7 points on 5 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Jason Hernandez de Leon was right behind with 6 points coming from 4 kills and 2 blocks. David Ixpata scored 5 points on 4 kills and 1 block. Guatemala did not score a point from an ace all match.

Standings