United States win over Algeria in four sets

MEXICALI, Mexico, June 28, 2013 - The United States defeated Algeria 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 28-26, 25-17) to open the actions of Pool D at the FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship on Thursday. Both squads played a very tough and tight match at Mexicali State Auditorium.

The Americans came back on the shoulders of Jacob Arnitz and Connor Lammey who were their main weapons. Arnitz finished with 18 points and Lammey tallied 17 while Karl Apfelbach scored 12 and Matthew Walsh, Jr. 11. Larbi Hadroug was Algeria’s top scorer with a total of 17 points.

In the other matches involving NORCECA teams:

Turkey outdueled Cuba in three well-fought sets to close the first day activities in Mexicali in Pool B. The Turkish side won 25-23, 29-27, 25-21.

Both teams registered eight blocks and two aces while the slight difference was in the number of unforced errors (19-24) and more attacks (45-42) in favor of the winners.

Ogbai Enaboifo was the best offensive player for Turkey with 18 points, followed by Kaan Gulec and Yasin Aydin with 11 and 10 respectively. Cuba’s Luis Jimeno, Osmani Uriarte and Inovel Romero had 9 points apiece.

In the last match in Tijuana, China romped to a convincing straight-set (25-19, 25-15, 25-18) victory over hosts Mexico in Pool A.

Chuanhang Tang had three aces and one block among his match-high 16 points for China. Yuanbo Li and Runtao Xia added 11 and 10 respectively.  Ariel Acosta, Ivan Molano and Enrique Ugaldo each had 7 points for Mexico.

The Chinese squad held a 7-0 difference in service winners of 9-6 in the blocking charts, while making only 12 unforced errors compared to 20 of Mexico.

In other matches, Iran edged Finland in five sets, Poland best Tunisia, France crushed Rwanda, Korea downed Egypt and Chile upset Japan.