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Coach David Hunt has determined the players who will represent the United States at the FIVB U19 World Championship.
USA Volleyball announced on Tuesday the 12 players selected the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team roster for the international tournament that will begin next month in Bahrain.
Hunt, who guided Pepperdine to the 2019 NCAA Tournament semifinals, finalized the U.S. roster following the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships that concluded Monday. The 24 players on the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Training Team were split into two squads for the tournament with one of those teams winning the gold medal in the international division.
“These are a lot of really good athletes,” Hunt said in an interview with USA Volleyball. “They are really good volleyball players. They are a combination of guys we think can compete in the tournament in a month and guys who will hopefully represent our country in the future.”
UCLA, Pepperdine and the defending NCAA champions Long Beach State led all college teams with each having two recruits on the U.S. roster.
Along with these schools, BYU, Lewis, Princeton, Purdue Fort Wayne and UC Irvine all had one recruit named to the team.
The United States won the silver medal at the 2018 NORCECA U19 Continential Championship to secure a berth to the upcoming World Championship. Seven players on that silver-medal team were among the players selected to this U.S. roster.
The World Championship is comprised of 20 countries that were placed into one of four pools for the opening round.
The United States will play Russia, South Korea, Nigeria and Dominican Republic in its opening round pool-play. The top-four teams from this pool will advance to the Round of 16.
U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team roster
Setter: Joe Karlous, Pepperdine
Setter: Kevin Kauling, Lewis
Opposite: Clarke Godbold, Long Beach State
Outside attacker: Joe Deluzio, Pepperdine
Outside attacker; James Hartley, Princeton
Outside attacker: Alex Knight, UCLA
Outside attacker: Kilstain Lawrence, Uncommitted
Outside attacker: Francesco Sani, UC Irvine
Middle attacker: Ethan Hill, UCLA
Middle attacker: Gavin Julien, BYU
Middle attacker: Rico Wardlow, Purdue Fort Wayne
Libero: Mason Briggs, Long Beach State
Coaching staff
Head coach: David Hunt, Pepperdine head coach
Assistant coach: Kevin Burch, Ohio State head coach
Assistant coach: Nick MacRae, Long Beach State assistant coach
Assistant coach: Colin McMillan, Penn State associate head coach
Technical coordinator: Mitch Lush, Ohio State director of operations