U.S. Men Finishing VNL Preliminary Round in Manila

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 17, 2024) – The U.S. Men’s National Team will continue preparing for the 2024 Olympic Games when it competes this week in the final preliminary round of the 2024 Volleyball Nations League in Manila, Philippines.

The U.S. Men (3-5) will play Iran (0-8), Brazil (5-3), Germany (3-5) and Japan (6-2). All but Iran have qualified for the Olympic Games.

The top eight teams in the standings at the end of the preliminary round will advance to the VNL Final Round on June 27-30 in Łódź, Poland. The U.S. Men are currently in 12th place in the standings.

Micah Christenson and Micah Ma’a will be the setters. Kyle Dagostino and Erik Shoji are the liberos.

Matt Anderson, Kyle Ensing and Jake Hanes are the opposites on the team.

T.J. DeFalco, Jordan Ewertand Garrett Muagututia are the outside hitters.

Taylor Averill, Max Holt, Jeff Jendryk and David Smith are the middle blockers.

Outside hitter Cody Kessel is a reserve player who could join the roster for another player during the course of the week.

Eleven players on the roster are on the team for Paris 2024: Anderson, Averill, Christenson, DeFalco, Holt, Jaeschke, Jendryk, Ma’a, Muagututia, Shoji and Smith. Ensing is the team’s official alternate.

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. Olympian Erik Sullivan, who coaches with the Texas women’s volleyball team, will also assist Speraw in Manila.

U.S. Men’s National Team Roster
for 2024 Volleyball Nations League – Week 3
No. Player (Position, Height, Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-10, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State, Western Empire)
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)
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)
11C 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)
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)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)

Reserve player
23 Cody Kessel (OH, 6-5, Colorado Springs, Colo., Princeton Univ., Rocky Mountain)

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 def. Serbia 3-1 (23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-14)
June 8 at 1:30 p.m. Canada def. USA 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 26-24, 28-26)

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