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The U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team won its final tournament match to avoid a bottom-five finish at the World Championship.
No. 9 United States defeated No. 10 Egypt 29-27, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 on Sunday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to finish in 11th place at the 16-team international tournament.
This is the United States’ (3-5) second-best finish at a World Championship in the last 10 years. The United States finished in 10th place at the last World Championship in 2009.
Outside attacker Cody Caldwell, a Loyola incoming freshman recruit, had a team-high 11 kills as the United States out-hit Egypt 53-49 in the victory.
Caldwell was one of three U.S. players to have at least nine kills against Egypt (3-5). Outside attacker Austin Kingi, an incoming freshman recruit for UC Santa Barbara, had 10 kills, while outside attacker Greg Petty, an incoming recruit for Lewis, added nine kills.
Egypt outside attacker Islam Abdelkader had a match-high 16 kills in the loss.
The United States out-blocked Egypt 13-7 and had five players finish with multiple blocks. Setter James Shaw, who will be a high school senior this school year, had a match-high three blocks.
All 12 U.S. players except for outside attacker Matthew Tarantino started at least one game in the victory against Egypt. Tarantino, an incoming recruit for Pepperdine, had played in every match for the United States during the tournament and led the team in kills in two of its last three matches.
This was the second time the United States defeated Egypt at the World Championship. The United States in its first-round opener beat Egypt in five games, including winning the decisive fifth game in overtime 17-15.
Egypt and the United States both reached the 11th-place championship match after losing in the ninth-place semifinals on Saturday.