Hildebrand Helps USA Men's Volleyball to Win
August 11, 2005 Release Courtesy of USA Volleyball
IZMIR, Turkey – The USA men's volleyball team opened the summer World University Games with a dominating 25-12, 25-14, 25-13 victory over Lebanon at Karsiyaka Sports Hall on Thursday. All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, Ariz./Long Beach State) served USA to a 10-0 lead to open the first set and set the tone. USA never trailed in the entire match, easily building as much as a 20-8 lead in the second set and a 21-9 advantage in the final frame.
"I'm really proud of the way our guys stayed focused throughout the match," said head coach Joe Wortmann (Stockton, Calif.), who also serves as the head coach at University of the Pacific. "These guys are such good competitors; they really didn't focus on the other team. We just focused on ourselves, so that was really good."
Andy Hein (Carol Stream, Ill./Pepperdine) posted five blocks in the match and led all scorers with 11 points. Nathan Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn State University) added 10 points, and he and Jimmy Pelzel (Aliso Viejo, Calif./University of California, Irvine) shared top kill honors with eight apiece.
"When you come out and play a team like that, it really tests the fundamentals and your technique," Pelzel said. "It was really good to get that test in."
Georges Assaf led Lebanon with four points.
USA continues pool play Friday against France, which fell to USA in five games in the bronze medal match of the 2003 World University Games in Korea. First serve is at 3 p.m. (local time) at Gursel Aksel Sports Hall.
"France is a very formidable team," Wortmann said. "We don't know much about them, but I do know that they have a world-class team. We will play USA Volleyball, which is never give up and go as hard as we can."
"They have been playing at a really high level, higher than what we play in college," Pelzel added. "I'm expecting them to put up a fight, and obviously we expect a very different situation than today. It will be a real test."
2005 World University Games
USA Pool Play Schedule
Thursday, Aug. 11
USA def. Lebanon, 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-13)
Friday, Aug. 12
USA vs. France
Saturday, Aug. 13
USA vs. China
Sunday, Aug. 14
USA vs. Belgium
Monday, Aug. 15
USA vs. Slovakia
2005 USA Men's World University Games Team
Matt Denmark (Edmond, Okla./Ball State)
Shaun Dyk (Mooresville, N.C./Cal Baptist University)
Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif./Stanford)
Andy Hein (Carol Stream, Ill./Pepperdine)
Tyler Hildebrand (Mesa, Ariz./Long Beach State)
Kristopher Kraushaar (Irvine, Calif./UCLA)
Nathan Meerstein (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn State)
Paul Munoz (Huntington Beach, Calif./Long Beach State)
Nils Nielsen (Fallbrook, Calif./Cal State Northridge)
Jimmy Pelzel (Lake Forest, Calif./UC Irvine)
Robert Tarr (Rockledge, Fla./Long Beach State)
Brian Zodrow (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Pacific)
Head Coach: Joe Wortmann (Stockton, Calif./Pacific)
Assistant Coach: Sean Byron (North Plainfield, N.J./Rutgers-Newark)
Team Leader: Ken Preston (Santa Barbara, Calif./UC Santa Barbara)
Trainer: George Davies (Savannah, Ga./Armstrong Atlantic State University) |
