COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 30, 2018) — The U.S. Men have opened the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League at 3-0.
They have reached that record without regular starters Matt Anderson at opposite, Micah Christenson at setter and Aaron Russell at outside hitter.
They will get those three starters back for their next three matches on June 1-3 in Goiânia, Brazil, against Japan (2-1), Korea (0-3) and Brazil (2-1). They lose outside hitter Taylor Sander, who is among the league’s scoring leaders after the first weekend. Sander is returning to the United States for personal reasons.
Setter Jonah Seif and opposite Kyle Ensing will also return to the United States to make room for the new players.
Although the U.S. Men have a perfect record, they are in fourth place in the league behind Poland, France and Italy because the match against Argentina went five sets.
Brazil is right behind them in fifth place at 2-1, having only lost to Italy (3-2) in Serbia. Opposite Wallace de Souza is leading Brazil in scoring.
Japan is in seventh place with four-set wins over Australia and Iran and a four-set loss to France. Opposite Yuji Nishida leads Japan’s offense.
Korea had a tough opening weekend and suffered 3-0 losses to Poland, Canada and Russia. Outside hitter Jae-Duck Seo leads Korea in scoring.
The FIVB has chosen Flovolleyball.tv to live stream the matches in the United States.
2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League
U.S. Men’s 14-Man Travel Roster for China
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)
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)
19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii)
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
Team Doctor: William Stetson
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 at 8:15 a.m.: Japan vs USA
June 2 at 7:10 a.m.: Korea vs USA
June 3 at 8:40 a.m.: Brazil vs USA
At Ottawa, Canada
June 8 at 1:40 p.m.: Germany vs USA
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 – GET TICKETS
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