COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 16, 2018) – The U.S. Men’s National Team got its first sweep of the FIVB World Championship on Sunday, beating Cameroon, 25-18, 25-20, 25-14 in Bari, Italy.
The U.S. Men (4-0) went into Sunday leading their pool. They will play their final pool play match against Tunisia at 8 a.m. PT on Tuesday. All men’s World Championship matches will be shown live on FloVolleyball.tv, which has reduced the subscription price 20 percent for the event.
The U.S. Men had little trouble against Cameroon, despite having to play the “early” match one day after getting an intense 3-1 victory over Russia in the “late” match.
“I think every coach is concerned about letdowns after an emotional win like we had yesterday against Russia,” U.S. Head Coach John Speraw said. “Especially combined with the fatigue of our fourth match in five days.
“Despite that, it looked like we played with good energy in the first set. Maybe a little out of breath in set two, but Cameroon made some nice plays.”
The U.S. Men led in kills (27-20) and aces (9-2). The teams tied in blocks (4-4). The U.S. scored 21 points on Cameroon errors while committing 18.
The United States led for most of the match, except for early in the second set when Cameroon took a 9-6 lead. Cameroon served out of bounds and U.S. setter Micah Christenson served an ace. Opposite Matt Anderson scored on an attack to tie the score at 9-9.
With the score still tied at 12-12, middle blocker Jeff Jendryk scored with a kill, Cameroon was called for being out of rotation and Christenson scored with a block to put the U.S. ahead for good at 16-12.
“After such an emotional match last night, it was our goal to come out with energy and focus for this match,” U.S. libero Erik Shoji said. “Cameroon is a good volleyball team, so it was important for us to execute on our side of the net.”
Anderson and outside hitter Taylor Sander led the U.S. with nine points each. Anderson had a match-high eight kills and one block. Sander scored on six kills, two aces and one block.
Middle blocker Taylor Averill added eight points on a match-high four aces and four kills. Jendryk, making his first start of the tournament, scored on five kills and a team-high two blocks.
Cameroon’s David Patrick Feughouo led all scorers with 10 points.
U.S. STARTERS V CAMEROON
Outside hitters: Taylor Sander and Aaron Russell
Middle blockers: Taylor Averill and Jeff Jendryk
Opposite: Matt Anderson
Setter: Micah Christenson
Libero: Erik Shoji
Substitutes: Jake Langlois (OH), Ben Patch (MB), Kawika Shoji (S)
U.S. STATISTICS V CAMEROON
Kills: Anderson 8, Sander 6, Jendryk 5, Averill 4, Russell 4
Blocks: Jendryk 2, Russell 1, Sander 1
Aces: Averill 4, Sander 2, Anderson 1, Russell 1, Christenson 1