COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 22, 2019) – The U.S. Boys Youth National Team fell to Korea, 25-27, 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 on Thursday at the FIVB Boys U19 World Championship in Tunisia.
The United States (1-1) will try to come back Friday against Nigeria (1-0) at 11:30 a.m. PT. Live statistics should be available at http://u19.boys.2019.volleyball.fivb.com/en/schedule/10816-Nigeria-USA.
The United States led in kills (54-53) while Korea led in blocks (8-6) and aces (7-3). Korea scored 32 points on U.S. errors while committing 23.
“Korea set their outside hitters a lot. We had a hard time slowing them down offensively,” U.S. Head Coach David Hunt said. “They started to pass the ball really well, so they were in-system a fair amount.”
After the third set, Hunt brought in setter Joe Karlous for starter Kevin Kauling, Francesco Sani for starting outside hitter Clarke Godbold and Akinola Akinwumi for starting opposite James Hartley.
The U.S. hitting efficiency was .338 behind Kauling and Karlous. Korea’s hitting efficiency was .491.
Middle blocker Ethan Hill led the U.S. with 14 points on 14 kills. Outside hitter Alex Knight added 12 points on eight kills and a match-high four blocks. Godbold totaled 10 points on 10 kills.
Middle blocker Gavin Julien had eight points. Hartley scored six. Kauling scored four points as did Sani. Karlous had one point.
Libero Mason Briggs was credited with 18 receptions, 56 percent positive. Godbold led in receptions with 39, 54% positive.
Hunt hoped to see improvement from his team against Nigeria.
“There’s lots of things that we could pick out. Probably one or two things for each guy,” Hunt said. “They’ve done a nice job getting better through the training block. Even after yesterday, some guys made some changes. We’re just going to keep making changes and getting better day by day.”
U.S. STARTERS VS KOREA
Outside hitters: Alex Knight and Clarke Godbold
Middle blockers: Ethan Hill and Gavin Julien
Setter: Kevin Kauling
Opposite: James Hartley
Libero: Mason Briggs
Substitutes: Akinola Akinwumi (Opp), Francesco Sani (OH), Joe Karlous (S)
2019 U.S. Boys Youth National Training Team
Name (Pos., Height, Hometown, Region, College commit)
1 Kevin Kauling (S, 6-8, Naperville, Ill., Great Lakes, committed to Lewis)
3 Mason Briggs (L, 5-11, Valencia, Calif., So Cal, signed with Long Beach State)
4 Joe Karlous (S, 6-0, Costa Mesa, Calif., So Cal, signed with Pepperdine)
8 Akinola Akinwumi (Opp, 6-6, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., So Cal, signed with Pepperdine)
9 Clarke Godbold (Opp, 6-5, San Pedro, Calif., So Cal, committed to Long Beach State)
10 James Hartley (OH, 6-6, Waxhaw, N.C., Carolina, signed with Princeton)
11 Rico Wardlow (MB, 6-5, Bolingbrook, Ill., Great Lakes, signed with Purdue University Fort Wayne)
12 Alex Knight (OH, 6-6, Culver City, Calif., So Cal, signed with UCLA)
13 Ethan Hill (MB, 6-7, San Clemente, Calif., So Cal, signed with UCLA)
14 Francesco Sani (OH, 6-8, Bethesda, Md., Old Dominion, committed to UC Irvine)
15 Joe Deluzio (OH, 6-6, Windermere, Fla., Florida, committed to Pepperdine)
17 Gavin Julien (MB, 6-8, Whitefish Bay, Wis., Badger, signed with BYU)
Head Coach: David Hunt (Pepperdine men’s volleyball head coach)
Assistant Coach: Nick MacRae (Long Beach State men’s assistant coach)
Assistant Coach: Colin McMillan (Penn State men’s associate head coach)
Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo (U.S. Men’s National Team)
Team Manager: Gabby Lutjen
Doctor: David Dyck
Schedule/Results (All times PT)
Aug. 21: USA def Dominican Republic, 25-18, 31-29, 25-17
Aug. 22: Korea def USA, 25-27, 25-17, 25-20, 25-22
Aug. 23 at 11:30 a.m. USA vs Nigeria
Aug. 25 at 11:30 a.m. USA vs Russia