U.S Boys’ Youth National Team falls to Mexico - Volleyball
The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team had a match with Mexico on Wednesday, July 15, that marked the final match of pool play in the Boys’ Youth Under-19 Pan American Cup that is currently taking place in Mexicali, Mexico. In the clash that took five long and
grueling sets to end, the host team was able to hand out a defeat to their rivals.
The first set of the match was secured by the host team but the next one was won by the Americans, making the match reach a tie position. The Americans got themselves the advantage by sealing the deal on the third set as well. However, that was as far as
the Americans could go as the fourth and the fifth sets were bagged by the Mexicans. Despite the loss, the Americans did not go down without a fight which is shown by the final set scores that stood at the following points: 25-21, 19-25, 21-25, 27-25 and
15-13.
Ken Shibuya, the head coach of the U.S. team made the following comments when the match had reached its close: “Actually this was our second match of this year, and it was a very good one on both sides. We were six players in the courts against another
six players and two thousand more, but really wanted to experience how it feels to face a team locally with all the support of the fans.”
The first set of the match started off with the U.S. team taking the lead at 2-0. However, the Mexican were able to close in the gap and take the lead for themselves at 9-5. Despite the fact that the U.S. squad kept on trying, they could not over take the
Mexicans who were going strong with a 20-18 advantage. The Mexicans were eventually able to bag the opening set of the game at 25-21.
The second set of the game saw the Mexicans capitalizing on the momentum generated by winning the previous set that led them to take the advantage early on at 5-1. However, the Americans did not let the Mexicans stretch themselves too far and reached a tie
at 6-6. The Americans fought on to get themselves the lead at 18-14 which turned out to be a win at 25-19.
Taking heart from winning the second set, the Americans stepped up their game in the third set too that led them to win it at 25-21. That was as far as the Mexicans let the Americans go as they bagged the fourth and the fifth sets at 27-25 and 15-13 respectively.
As the Mexican team has finished in the top slot in pool play, it has earned itself the thicket to the semi finals while the Americans will have to go through the quarter final round to qualify. In Pool A, the team that has stood first is the Brazilian squad.
Tags: