Men
A young and undersized team from Guatemala showed great heart, but in the end was no match for the Olympic gold medalist as the U.S. Men’s National Team defeated the Central Americans on Saturday, 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-6) at the 2010 World Championship Qualifier for NORCECA Pool F at the Bren Center on the campus of UC Irvine.
Guatemala will take on the Dominican Republic at 5 p.m. local time in the second match of pool play. The United States will play Panama on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. local time. In Monday’s finale, Panama will play Guatemala at 5 p.m. and the United States will square off against the Dominican Republic.
The United States’ Evan Patak (Pleasanton, Calif.) led all scorers on Saturday with 21 points on a match-high 10 kills, one block and a match-high 10 aces. Andy Hein (Carol Stream, Ill.) added 11 points on nine kills and two blocks. Hein completed nine kills on nine attempts with no errors for a perfect hitting percentage. Patak completed 10 of 14 with one error for a hitting percentage of 0.64.
“In these kinds of matches, we really try to keep the focus on ourselves,” said U.S. Team Captain David Lee (a Long Beach State alum.). “We’re here to play every single match as hard as we can.”
“I thought we were good in the areas we have been working on,” U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe (currently on leave from Long Beach State) said. “I thought we were serving well and were clean and crisp in transition.
“In a match like this the best compliment you can give your opponent is to keep playing hard.”
Among other U.S. scorers, Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) totaled seven points on four kills and three aces. Paul Lotman (also an LBSU alum) added five points on four kills and one ace.
Women
The U.S. Women’s National Team concluded the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix preliminary rounds on a sour note as its comeback against Thailand fell short in a 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11 loss on Sunday afternoon at Bangkok, Thailand.
USA ends the nine-match, three-weekend preliminary round with a 3-6 record and in ninth place, while Thailand finishes with a 4-5 record. Both teams failed to qualify for the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round, which is to be held Aug. 19-23 at Tokyo with the top five preliminary teams plus host Japan. The World Grand Prix, a 12-country event, is the premier annual women’s international volleyball tournament.
“Congratulations on Thailand’s great win,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said. “They are strong and already made a wonderful weekend on home pool. A big crowd in the competition venue was also great, making everyone enjoy the game. We tried our best, but had to surrender to their great form.”
Alexis Crimes (a former 49er) tallied 11 points with five blocks, four kills and two aces, while Long Beach native Cynthia Barboza contributed eight points in the loss.