Matt Anderson
Opposite/Outside Hitter, 6-10
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 6, 2024) –The U.S. Men’s National Team fell to Italy 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-20) in their second match of week two at the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) preliminary round on Thursday in Ottawa, Canada.
The U.S. Men held leads late in the first two sets, but could not stave off the Italians who were coming off their first loss in VNL against France the night before. Italy is also fighting to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games via its FIVB world ranking at the end of the VNL preliminary round.
“The difference in the first two sets was we didn’t close out,” middle blocker Max Holt told Volleyball World. “Give them a ton of credit. They are a world class team and we knew they would give us their all tonight. We’ll learn from it and we know that we’ll see that team probably in a very important match in the near future.”
The U.S. Men (2-4) will look to get back in the win column on Friday when they take on Serbia (2-3) at 5 p.m. PT.
Holt and outside hitter TJ DeFalco led U.S. scorers with eight points each. Holt had seven kills and one block. DeFalco had six kills and two blocks.
Opposite Matt Anderson, middle blocker Jeff Jendryk and outside hitter Aaron Russell each had six points. Anderson had five kills and one ace. Jendryk had three kills, two blocks and one ace. Russell had six kills.
In the third set, U.S. Head Coach John Speraw went to his bench looking for a spark to get back into the match. Outside hitters Garrett Muagututia and Thomas Jaeschke started the set. Opposite Kyle Ensing subbed in midway through. The three had some bright moments, but Italy won several long rallies, which seemed to deflate any hope of a comeback.
Muagututia finished the match with five points on three kills, one block and one ace. Jaeschke had three points on three kills. Ensing added two points on two blocks.
Libero Erik Shoji was credited with 13 digs and six successful receptions.
U.S. Men’s National Team Roster
for 2024 Volleyball Nations League – Week 2
No. Player (Position, Height, Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-10, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State, Western Empire)
2 Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State, Chesapeake)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
5 Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
10 Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Florida, Stanford Univ., Florida)
11 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Southern California, Aloha)
12 Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State, Ohio Valley)
14 Micah Ma’a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)
17 Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
18 Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
19 Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
20 David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., Univ. of California Irvine, Southern California)
22 Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ., Aloha)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer
Second Assistants: Javier Weber and Erik Sullivan
Performance Analyst and Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Tim Pelot
Team Manager: David Dantes
Sports Psychologists: Andrea Becker, Peter Naschak
Doctors: Andrew Gregory
U.S. Men’s Schedule for 2024 VNL
All times PDT
Matches will be shown live and on-demand on VolleyballWorld.tv
Week 1 in Antalya, Türkiye
May 22 at 10 a.m. Poland def. USA 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 26-24)
May 24 at 7 a.m. France def. USA 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21)
May 25 at 10 a.m. Bulgaria def. USA 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21)
May 26 at 7 a.m. USA def. Türkiye 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-21)
Week 2 in Ottawa, Canada
June 4 at 1:30 p.m. USA def. Argentina 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 26-24)
June 6 at 1:30 p.m. Italy def. USA 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-20)
June 7 at 5 p.m. USA vs Serbia
June 8 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Canada
Week 3 in Manila Philippines
June 19 at 4 a.m. USA vs Iran
June 20 at 4 a.m. USA vs Brazil
June 21 at 8 p.m. USA vs Germany
June 23 at 4 a.m. USA vs Japan
Final Round on June 27-30 in Łódź, Poland
Aaron Russell
Outside Hitter, 6-9
Jeff Jendryk
Middle Blocker, 6-10
Kyle Ensing
Opposite, 6-7
TJ DeFalco
Outside Hitter, 6-5
Kyle Dagostino
Libero, 5-9
Micah Christenson
Setter, 6-5
Max Holt
Middle Blocker, 6-10
Micah Ma’a
Setter, 6-3
Thomas Jaeschke
Outside Hitter, 6-6
Garrett Muagututia
Outside Hitter, 6-5
Taylor Averill
Middle Blocker, 6-7
David Smith
Middle Blocker, 6-7
Erik Shoji
Libero, 6-0 (184 cm)
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