COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 8, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s National Team hoped to win the “serve and pass game” against Germany on Friday, but the Europeans got the upper hand early and went on to sweep the U.S., 25-19, 25-22, 25-13 in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Ottawa, Canada.
The U.S. Men (5-2) will try to bounce back against Australia on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. PT. FIVB has chosen FloVolleyball.tv to live stream the matches in the United States.
Germany led the U.S. Men in kills (35-32), blocks (7-4) and aces (12-4). Germany scored 21 points on U.S. errors while committing 13. Germany’s passing, receiving and serving were on point while the U.S. Men struggled.
“This was maybe the worst match I’ve seen our team play in the five years I’ve coached this program, so it’s obviously very disappointing,” U.S. Head Coach John Speraw said. “We just didn’t pass the ball and we didn’t put any pressure on them from our own service line. It was just a complete and total loss on the serve-and-pass side of the game, which is the most important side of winning; and that’s why you saw the scores the way they were.”
Outside hitter Jake Langlois led the U.S. Men with 12 points on nine kills, one block and two aces. Outside hitter Aaron Russell added 10 points on nine kills and one ace.
Middle blocker Dan McDonnell, making his 2018 debut with the U.S. Men’s Team, was the next highest scorer with five.
Speraw tried to turn the tide in the second set by bringing in opposite Ben Patch for Matt Anderson and setter Kawika Shoji in for Micah Christenson. The U.S. kept the second set close but Germany opened the third set with two straight aces and things went downhill from there.
Outside hitters Moritz Reichert and David Sossenheimer paced Germany with 12 points each.
“The German team certainly serve a great floater,” Speraw said. “Periodically over the years we’ve had matches where float serves hurt us, but to get hurt that badly by all their float serves. We just didn’t take care of the passing that we needed to take care of so we’re just going to have to get a little better and see if we can play better tomorrow night.”
U.S. STARTERS VS GERMANY
Outside Hitters: Aaron Russell and Jake Langlois
Middle Blockers: Max Holt and Dan McDonnell
Opposite: Matt Anderson
Setter: Micah Christenson
Libero: Erik Shoji
Substitutes: Kawika Shoji (S), Ben Patch (Opp), David Smith (MB), T.J. DeFalco (OH)
U.S. STATISTICS VS GERMANY
Kills: Langlois 9, Russell 9, McDonnell 5, Anderson 4, Holt 3, DeFalco 2, Smith 2, Christenson 1, Patch 1
Blocks: Langlois 1, Christenson 1, McDonnell 1, DeFalco 1
Aces: Langlois 2, McDonnell 1, Russell !
2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League
U.S. Men’s 14-Man Travel Roster for Canada
1. Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-9, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State)
2. Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State)
4. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
7. Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
10. Dan McDonnell (MB, 6-6, Phoenix, Ariz., UC Irvine)
8. T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Hawaii, Southern California)
12. Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)
13. Ben Patch (Opp, 6-8, Provo, Utah, BYU)
17. Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola)
18. Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
20C. David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine)
21. Dustin Watten (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
22. Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Team Manager: Andrea Becker
Assistant Coaches: Rob Neilson and Brian Thornton
Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Psychologist: Andrea Becker
Team Doctor: Andrew Gregory
Consultant Coach: Greg Walker
Schedule and Results (all times PT)
At Ningbo, China
May 25: USA def Argentina, 25-27, 24-26, 26-24, 25-21, 15-10
May 26: USA def Bulgaria vs USA, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20
May 27: USA def China, 25-20, 26-24, 25-18
At Goiânia, Brazil
June 1: USA def Japan, 23-25, 13-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-10
June 2: USA def Korea, 25-23, 25-21, 25-11
June 3: Brazil def USA, 21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 20-18
At Ottawa, Canada
June 8: Germany def USA, 25-19, 25-22, 25-13
June 9 at 1:10 p.m.: USA vs Australia
June 10 at 1:10 p.m.: Canada vs USA
At Hoffman Estates, Ill., USA
June 15 at 5:30 p.m.: USA vs. Serbia
June 16 at 5:30 p.m.: USA vs. Poland
June 17 at 2:30 p.m.: USA vs. Iran
At Modena, Italy
June 22 at 8:30 a.m.: USA vs France
June 23 at 8:30 a.m.: USA vs Russia
June 24 at 11:30 a.m.: Italy vs USA
Final Round (must qualify): July 1-4 in Lille, France