COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 2, 2019) – The U.S. Men’s National Team got its first win of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, 19-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16 on Sunday in Katowice, Poland.
The U.S. Men will travel to Ufa, Russia for their next three matches (vs. Italy, Russia and Portugal) with a 1-2 record. The matches will be show on FloVolleyball.tv, a subscription service.
U.S. Head Coach John Speraw started his third new lineup of the tournament, starting designated setter Micah Ma’a at outside hitter with Taylor Sander. David Smith and Jeff Jendryk started in middle. Mitch Stahl took over for Jendryk in the second set.
Josh Tuaniga started at setter, Kyle Ensing at opposite and Dustin Watten at libero.
The U.S. led in kills (47-39) with a hitting percentage of .398. Australia hit .273.
The U.S. led in blocks (11-7) and aces (6-4). Each team finished with 32 scoring errors.
Sander led all scorers with 19 points on 16 kills, two blocks and one ace. Ensing scored 14 on 10 kills, two blocks and two aces. Ma’a totaled 12 points
on nine kills, one block and two aces.
Smith had nine points including one block and two aces. Stahl finished with three blocks.
U.S. STARTERS VS AUSTRALIA
Outside hitters: Taylor Sander and Micah Ma’a
Middle blockers: David Smith and Jeff Jendryk
Opposite: Kyle Ensing
Setter: Josh Tuaniga
Libero: Dustin Watten
Substitutes: Mitch Stahl (MB), Kyle Russell (Opp), Kawika Shoji (S)
U.S. STATISTICS VS AUSTRALIA
Kills: Sander 16, Ensing 10, Ma’a 9, Smith 6, Jendryk 4, Russell 1
Blocks: Stahl 3, Sander 2, Ensing 2, Smith 2, Jendryk 1, Ma’a 1
Aces: Ensing 2, Ma’a 1, Smith 1, Sander 1
U.S. Men’s Travel Roster for Matches in Poland
3C Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
5 Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State)
6 Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-8, Chambersburg, Pa., UCLA)
7 Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
9 Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
14 Micah Ma’a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA)
16 Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
18 Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)
20 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)
25 Kyle Russell (Opp, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Rob Neilson and Brian Thornton
Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Consultant Coach: Erik Sullivan
Doctor: Christopher Lee
2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League
U.S. Men’s Schedule (all times PT)
Katowice, Poland
Brazil def USA, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23
Poland def USA, 17-25, 34-32, 26-28, 25-23, 15-9
USA def Australia, 19-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16