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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 7, 2017) – The U.S. Men’s National Team will play for bronze on Saturday following its semifinal loss on Friday to Brazil, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19 at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.
The U.S. Men will play Canada for third place at 7 p.m. ET. The match will be shown live on Universal HD and also streamed on YouTube. France will play Brazil in the gold medal match.
While the U.S. Men led in kills (55-51) and aces (6-4) and were very close in blocks (4-5), they gave up 38 scoring errors while Brazil committed 19. Brazil is the defending Olympic champion and has held on to five of its seven starters from Rio de Janeiro. The U.S. Men were without four of their Olympic starters.
As a team, the U.S. Men’s hitting efficiency was .282 while Brazil’s was .414.
Approximately 9,500 spectators filled the Arena da Baixada. It was the largest crowd the U.S. Men have played before this year.
“We didn’t play our best volleyball match, but Brazil does some really great things and put a lot of pressure on us,” U.S. Head Coach John Speraw said. “When you play a great team like this, especially for guys doing it for the first time, it’s a challenge.
“We’re disappointed with the way we started. We didn’t play with the same type of emotion and energy consistently enough through the volleyball match that I think has typified our run through World League.”
Outside hitter Taylor Sander led all scorers with 20 points on a match-high 18 kills and a match-high two aces. Outside hitter Thomas Jaeschke added 12 points on 11 kills and one block. Opposite Ben Patch scored 11 points on eight kills, two aces and one block. Middle blocker David Smith contributed 10 points on eight kills, one block and one ace.
U.S. Men’s Starters vs. Brazil
Outsides: Taylor Sander and Thomas Jaeschke
Middles: David Smith and Jeff Jendryk
Setter: Micah Christenson
Opposite: Ben Patch
Libero: Erik Shoji
U.S. Men’s Statistics vs. Brazil
Kills: Sander 18, Jaeschke 11, Patch 8, Smith 8, Muagututia 5, Jendryk 4, DeFalco 1
Blocks: Jendryk 1, Patch 1, Smith 1, Jaeschke 1
Aces: Sander 2, Patch 2, Smith 1, Kawika Shoji 1
Digs: Christenson 10, Patch 8, Sander 7, Smith 6, Erik Shoji 6, Muagututia 3, Jaeschke 2, DeFalco 1, McDonnell 1
2017 FIVB World League Final Round
July 4-8 in Curitiba, Brazil
U.S. Men’s Roster
3. Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
7C. Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
10. Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Southern California)
13. Dan McDonnell (MB, 6-6, Glendale, Ariz., UC Irvine)
14. Ben Patch (Opp, 6-8, Provo, Utah, BYU)
15. Carson Clark (Opp, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine)
17. TJ DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
18. Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)
19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii)
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)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Team Leader: Mike Wall
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer and Robert Neilson
Sports Psychologist: Andrea Becker
Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
| Date and Opponent | Result | Location | TV (all times EDT) | |||||||||
| June 2 | Serbia | L (25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-21) | Novi Sad, Serbia | June 2: 9:30-11:30 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 3 | Canada | L (23-25, 25-19,18-25, 25-23, 15-11) | Novi Sad, Serbia | June 3: 3-5 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 4 | Belgium | L (25-23, 25-16, 22-25, 28-26) | Novi Sad, Serbia | June 4: 6-8 p.m. UniHD | ||||||||
| June 9 | Italy | W (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) | Pau, France | June 9: 6-8 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 10 | Russia | W (25-20, 25-22, 25-22) | Pau, France | June 10: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. UniHD | ||||||||
| June 11 | France | L (25-20, 18-25, 25-22, 25-21) | Pau, France | June 11: 3-4:30 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 15 | Iran | W (25-17, 25-22, 30-28) | Katowice, Poland | June 15: 12-2 p.m.. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 17 | Russia | L (31-29, 17-25, 25-19, 27-29, 15-13) | Lodz, Poland | June 17: 6:30-8:30 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| June 18 | Poland | W (26-31, 25-17, 27-25, 25-20) | Lodz, Poland | June 18: 6-8 p.m. NBCSN | ||||||||
| July 4 | Final Round pool play | Brazil def Canada, 25-21, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 4, 2 p.m. on Universal HD | ||||||||
| July 4 | Final Round pool play | France def USA, 27-25, 20-25, 26-24, 17-25, 15-12 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 4, 4:40 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 5 | Final Round pool play | Canada def Russia, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 5, 2 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 5 | Final Round pool play | USA def Serbia, 25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 5, 4:30 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 6 | Final Round pool play | Brazil def Russia, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19, 22-25, 16-14 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 6, 2 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 6 | Final Round pool play | France def Serbia, 25-21, 25-20, 17-25, 18-25, 15-11 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 6, 4;30 on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 7 | Semifinals | Brazil def USA, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 7 at 2 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 7 | Semifinals | France def Canada, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21 | Curitiba, Brazil | July 7 at 4:30 on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 8 | Bronze medal | Canada vs USA | Curitiba, Brazil | July 8 at 7 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||
| July 8 | Gold medal | Brazil vs France | Curitiba, Brazil | July 8 at 10:05 p.m. on UniHD | ||||||||