U.S. Men Reach Medal Stand in Paris

PARIS, France (August 9, 2024) –The U.S. Men’s National Team earned its third bronze medal in Olympic history with a 3-0 (25-23, 30-28, 26-24) victory over reigning world champion Italy on Friday. The U.S. also earned the bronze in 2016 in Brazil and 1992 in Barcelona. The match marked the eighth time the two countries have met in the Olympics but the first time facing off for the bronze medal.

Setter Micah Christenson, playing in his third Olympic Games, played a brilliant match, distributing the ball among five U.S. hitters who registered at least six kills. The U.S. hit at a .354 efficiency percentage for the match with only four hitting errors over the final two sets and 10 hitting errors for the entire match. Libero Erik Shoji made multiple great defensive plays, leading all players with 12 digs, followed by Christenson with eight.

Facing the top blocking team among the semifinalists, the U.S. out-blocked Italy, 9-5. Middle blocker Max Holt (four blocks) and outside hitter Aaron Russell (three) were the top two blockers in the match with Christenson and Taylor Averill adding a block apiece. The U.S. middles also combined to hit .706 with 13 kills and only one error in 17 swings. Averill finished with seven kills in eight attacks, while Holt scored on six of nine attacks without an error. The middles also combined for seven digs, four from Holt and three from Averill.

Russell led the U.S. with 15 points on 11 kills and an ace with his three blocks, and also led the team with eight successful receptions. Outside hitter T.J DeFalco led the team with 12 kills, including three set-winners, and totaled seven digs. Holt also reached double-digits, adding an ace to his six kills and four blocks. Opposite Matt Anderson recorded eight kills, six digs and five successful receptions.

“They’ve had an exceptional Olympic Games,” head coach John Speraw said about his team. “Not just any Olympic Games, but especially in context of their past experience, which only added to the pressure of this opportunity. They handled that with total poise. I think that says a lot about their expertise and experience and leadership, their maturity. To have the experience they had 48 hours ago, which was so devastating, because this team had ambitions and knew they were playing good enough volleyball to play the gold medal match. To have it go the way it did, it was just really, really hard. We’ll probably think about that match (vs. Poland) the rest of our lives. But to be able to win today and finish on a winning note, which is what this team deserves, and that they can feel the success together on the court one last time… I think it’s just a really big moment for me.”

Christenson talked about the difficulty of playing a bronze medal match.

“I think this is probably the hardest game to play in international ball,” he said. “This bronze medal match after 48 hours before you get gutted in the semifinal match; it’s something that we’ve experienced before unfortunately. It’s something that we triumphed out of both times. I think that says a lot about the character of this team, about the resilience we have both as individuals and as a collective unit.

“We made a decision to play for each other tonight and try to honor all of the work we’ve put in together throughout these years,” Christenson continued. “I think we did that and more, and I couldn’t be more proud of us.”

MATCH STATISTICS (PDF)

Despite the sweep, the match was separated by a total of six points with the U.S. winning each set by two points. Italy led in kills (47-45) and service aces (5-2) but committed 25 errors while scoring 18 on opponent errors. The U.S. led 73-71 in digs and made six fewer serving errors than Italy.

PLAY-BY-PLAY

A block gave Italy the first two-point advantage of the opening set, 9-7, but the U.S. scored the next three points, culminating with a Holt kill, to take the lead. Trailing 14-13, Italy went on a 4-1 run to go up 17-15 and force a U.S. timeout. An Anderson kill and Averill block evened the set. A great block cover by Averill led to a Russell kill that tied the set again, and Russell followed with a block for a 19-18 U.S. lead.

Italy went on a 3-1 run to move back ahead, 21-20. The U.S. took its final timeout of the set. Anderson scored on a cross-body attack off a set from Shoji and Holt blocked the next Italy attack to put the U.S. back up. After the teams exchanged points, Anderson was facing a triple block but hit a sharp ball cross court to make it 24-22. Italy defended one set point, but DeFalco’s second kill on the next point gave the U.S. the set.

Anderson recorded four kills, Russell scored four points on three kills and a block, and Holt added two kills and two blocks. Both teams hit well below their hitting efficiency percentage for the tournament as the U.S. came into the match hitting at a tournament-best .431 efficiency percentage with Italy hitting at a .380 percentage. The U.S. held a major advantage in digs in the set, 17-11.

The U.S. took the first two-point lead in the second set, 10-8. A great read and dig by Shoji led to a DeFalco kill off the block and Italy was called for being over the net after a bad pass on the following serve. The teams traded the next 12 points before Italy went on a 3-0 run to take a 14-13 lead. After a timeout, the U.S. responded by scoring the next three points, the third on an Averill kill on an overpass, leading Italy to take its first timeout.

Kills by Averill and Holt gave the U.S. an 18-16 lead. On the following play, Italy hit the ball out and unsuccessfully challenged a net touch to extend the lead to three points for the first time in the match. After a Russell kill made it 20-17, Italy scored four points in a row to retake the lead. Four consecutive service errors made it 23-22 Italy before the teams split the next two points to give Italy set point. Back-to-back service errors made it 25-24 before Holt scored again to even the set.

A Shoji dig off his left shoulder found the court on the other side of the net to give the U.S. its first set point of the second set. An Anderson kill ended a long rally with big defensive plays on both sides of the net to put the U.S. up 27-26. A pair of service errors set up the third U.S. set point, but an Italy kill followed. A Back row attack by Anderson made it 29-28. On the next play, the U.S. front row sent two attacks back before another strong Shoji dig led to DeFalco’s second set-winning kill. DeFalco finished the set with six kills and Russell added five. Averill (four kills) and Holt (three) registered eight kills on nine swings.

Holt and Russell each recorded blocks as the U.S. scored the first three points in the third set, forcing Italy to take an early timeout. Christenson and another Holt block made it 6-2 and Russell served an ace to make it 7-2, the largest lead of the match and causing another Italy timeout. Holt scored four of the team’s first nine points with a kill, two blocks and an ace.

Christenson earned a kill on a big swing to extend the U.S. advantage to six points, 11-5. Italy went on a 6-1 run, using an ace to close the gap to one point, 12-11. Italy evened the set for the first time at 14 and took its first lead, 17-16, on an ace. With the score tied at 19, a Russell block put the U.S. back up by a point.

Italy rebounded by scoring the next two points to take a 21-20 lead. Italy also led 22-21 and 23-22, but a service error evened the score at 23. The U.S. earned match point when Anderson earned a kill off the block on a bump set from Russell. Italy defended multiple match point swings on the next point but committed a foot fault to put the U.S. up 25-24. Another great did by Shoji led to a third set-ending kill by DeFalco to secure the bronze medal.

After the match, Anderson talked about DeFalco coming back strong after a shaky semifinal.

“TJ wears the games and the individual skills and individual actions really heavy,” he said. “He’s a great thinker and has a great mind for the game. It’s hard sometimes to play with players like that because you feel their emotions and you feel it on the court. As a team, we can uplift and we can take down. But TJ’s never trying to bring us down. He just wants us to be better. And I feel that, and I respect him for that. The way that he’s been able to turn around from the loss in the semifinal and play as well as he did is amazing.”

Anderson added that he’s “tentatively signing up for 2028.”

Russell led the team with six points on three kills, two blocks and an ace in the final set. DeFalco finished with four kills with Holt scoring four points on a kill, two blocks and an ace.

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U.S. Men’s Roster for the Olympic Games Paris 2024

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)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
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)

Official Alternate: 5 Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)

Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer, Javier Weber and Mike Wall
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Performance Analyst and Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Team Leader: Erik Sullivan
Mental Performance Coaches: Andrea Becker and Peter Naschak
Technical Coordinator: David Dantes
Team Doctor: Lori Boyajian-O’Neill

U.S. Men’s Schedule (PT) at the Olympic Game Paris 2024.

July 27 USA def. Argentina, 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-16)
July 30 USA def. Germany, 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 15-11)
Aug. 2 USA def. Japan, 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19)
Aug. 5 Quarterfinals, USA def. Brazil, 3-1 (26-24, 28-30, 25-19, 25-19)
Aug. 7 Semifinals, Poland def. USA, 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13)
Aug. 9 at 7 a.m. Bronze medal, USA def. Italy, 3-0 (25-23, 30-28, 26-24)