U.S. breezes past Chile to open U19 Pan American Cup

Photo courtesy of NORCECA and the FIVB

Chile simply had no answer for opposite Finn Kearney at the service line.

Kearney finished with a tournament-high eight aces as the United States swept Chile 26-24, 25-16, 25-11 in its opener at the U19 Pan American Cup on Monday in Guatemala.

Along with the serving performance, the Arizona high school sophomore had nine kills and two blocks in the group-play victory.

Setter Tread Rosenthal had a match-high 19 excellent sets and guided the U.S. offense to out-hit Chile .313 to .086. The United States also had two players with double-digit kills against Chile.

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Outside attacker Sean Kelly led all players with both 14 kills and a .461 attack percentage. In addition, outside attacker Sterling Foley had 14 kills and added two aes.

The United States finished with 10 aces, while holding Chile to zero aces.

Outside attacker Ian Gei in the loss had a team-high eight kills and was the only Chilean player with more than five kills.

The United States out-blocked Chile 7 to 0 with middle attacker Caiden Carreira having a match-high three blocks.

The United States will continue group-play with a match against Costa Rica on Tuesday. Costa Rica lost to Mexico in three games in its tournament opener on Monday.

The top four teams in this eight-team tournament will qualify for the 2023 FIVB U19 World Championship.