PROVO, Utah — BYU men's volleyball outside hitters Jake Langlois and Brenden Sander are among 12 players who will represent the United States at the NORCECA Men’s Pan American Cup from May 21-26 in Mexico City.
The Pan American Cup will also include teams from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico.
Sander and Langlois each earned All-America honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association this past season. Langlois just completed his junior season with BYU while Sander was a sophomore for the Cougars in 2016. The two outside hitters helped BYU win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season and tournament titles, earn a No. 1 national ranking and advance to the finals of the 2016 NCAA Tournament while achieving a 27-4 overall record.
Joining Langlois (San Jose, Calif.) and Sander (Huntington Beach, Calif.) as outside hitters competing for the United States at the Pan Am Cup are T.J. DeFalco (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii). Carson Clark, who was playing with the senior Men’s National Team before being sidelined by an injury, will be the team captain and will play at opposite.
The middle blockers on the team are Taylor Averill (San Jose, Calif.), Jeff Jendryk (Wheaton, Ill.) and Kris Johnson (Long Beach, Calif.). The setters are Peter Hutz (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and Josh Tuaniga (Long Beach, Calif.) while Michael Brinkley (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will play libero.
Averill, Brinkley, DeFalco and Johnson all played on the U.S. Men’s team that competed at the 2015 Pan American Games. Langlois, Sander, Tuaniga, Jendryk and DeFalco are all still in the midst of their college careers.
“I am just trying to get them to play together like we know they can,” said Head Coach Ron Larsen, a two-time Olympic assistant coach and currently an assistant at Concordia University Irvine. “They are a great group of guys and they have the opportunity to wear USA on their back. They’re looking forward to it.”
The assistant coaches are Armen Zakarian, coach at West Valley College in Saratoga, California, and Sean Rooney, a two-time Olympian and 2008 gold medalist who is now an assistant coach at Pepperdine. Team manager Jordan Cheng is from UC Irvine.
U.S. Men’s Pan American Cup Team
1. Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
2. Greg Petty(OH, 6-6, Downers Grove, Ill., Lewis)
3. Brenden Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4. Josh Taylor (OH, 6-7, Honolulu, Hawaii, Pepperdine)
9. Joshua Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
10. Peter Hutz (S, 6-4, Whitefish Bay, Wis., Loyola of Chicago)
12. Kris Johnson (MB, 6-11, Long Beach, Calif., California Baptist University)
15. Carson Clark (Opp, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine)
17. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., University of Hawaii)
23. TJ DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State University)
24. Michael Brinkley (L, 5-10, Huntington Beach, Calif., University of California – Irvine)
Staff
Head Coach: Ron Larsen
Assistant Coach: Armen Zakarian
Assistant Coach: Sean Rooney
Team Manager: Jordan Cheng
Athletic Trainer: Jonathan Sung
Schedule/Results (All times PT)
Pool Play
May 21 at 2 p.m.: USA v Chile
May 22 at 2 p.m.: Chile v Dominican Republic
May 23 at 4 p.m.: Dominican Republic v USA
May 24: Quarterfinals and classification matches
May 25: Semifinals and classification matches
May 26: Medal matches