COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 25, 2024) – Ten Olympians highlight the U.S. Men’s National Team’s 30-athlete roster for the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
Volleyball Nations League is the world’s premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round on June 27-30 in Łódź, Poland.
Coaches will select 14 athletes from the long-list roster to compete at the United States’ VNL stops in Antalya, Türkiye (May 22-26), Ottawa, Canada (June 4-8) and Manila, Philippines (June 19-23).
The 10 Olympians on the roster are: opposites Matt Anderson and Kyle Ensing, setter Micah Christenson, libero Erik Shoji, outside hitters T.J. DeFalco, Thomas Jaeschke, Garrett Muagututia and Aaron Russell and middle blockers Max Holt and David Smith.
Besides those 10, others on the roster with previous VNL experience include opposites Jake Hanes and Kyle Russell, setters Micah Ma’a and Josh Tuaniga, liberos Mason Briggs and Kyle Dagostino, outside hitters Jacob Pasteur and Cody Kessel, and middle blockers Taylor Averill, Patrick Gasman and Jeff Jendryk.
Players who have not made a VNL travel roster are opposite Gabi Garcia, setters Quinn Isaacson and Nicholas Slight, outside hitters Ethan Champlin, Jordan Ewert and Brett Wildman, and middle blockers Matthew Knigge, Michael Marshman and Daniel Wetters.
The U.S. Men’s head coach is John Speraw, who was named head coach in 2013 and helped the team to the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Speraw’s top assistants are former indoor and beach player Matt Fuerbringer, who has coached college and club teams, and Javier Weber, a three-time Olympian for Argentina who also coached the national team and continues to coach for professional club teams. Andy Read, who has coached numerous junior and senior teams for USA Volleyball, will also help with the team.
The U.S. Men are ranked No. 2 in the world and have won the silver medal at the last two VNLs (in 2022 and ’23). They are qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
U.S. Men’s National Team 30-Athlete Roster for
2024 Volleyball Nations League
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)
3 Gabi Garcia Fernandez (Opp, 6-7, San Juan, Puerto Rico, BYU, Intermountain)
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)
6 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State Univ., Great Lakes)
7 Jacob Pasteur (OH, 6-4, Westminster, Md., Ohio State Univ., Chesapeake)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
9 Jake Hanes (Opp, 6-10, Orland Park, Ill., Ohio State Univ., Great Lakes)
10 Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Florida, Stanford Univ., Florida)
11 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Southern California, Hawaii)
12 Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State, Ohio Valley)
13 Patrick Gasman (MB, 6-10, Clovis, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
14 Micah Ma’a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)
15 Kyle Russell (Opp, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine, Northern California)
16 Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
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)
21 Mason Briggs (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
22 Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ., Hawaii)
23 Cody Kessel (OH, 6-5, Colorado Springs, Colo., Princeton Univ., Rocky Mountain)
24 Brett Wildman (OH, 6-5, Virginia Beach, Va., Penn State Univ., Old Dominion)
25 Ethan Champlin (OH, 6-3, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
26 Matthew Knigge (MB, 6-7, New Egypt, N.J., Vassar, Garden Empire)
27 Michael Marshman (MB, 6-7, Glenmont, N.Y., St. Francis, Excelsior Empire)
28 Nicholas Slight (S, 6-3, Storm Lake, Iowa, Grand Canyon, Iowa)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)
30 Daniel Wetter (MB, 6-5, Camarillo, Calif., CSUN, Southern California)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer, Javier Weber, Andy Read
Second Assistant Coaches: Nicholas MacRae, Morteza Shiari, Erik Sullivan, Michael Wall
Performance Analyst and Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Technical Coordinator: Jimmy Kim
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Tim Pelot
Team Manager: David Dantes
Sports Psychologists: Andrea Becker, Peter Naschak
Doctors: William Briner, Andrew Gregory, Mark Hutchinson, Warren Young
Physiotherapist: Benjamin Colletti
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. USA vs Poland
May 24 at 7 a.m. USA vs France
May 25 at 10 a.m. USA vs Bulgaria
May 26 at 7 a.m. USA vs Türkiye
Week 2 in Ottawa, Canada
June 4 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Argentina
June 6 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Italy
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