U.S. Men's Thirty-Man Roster for 2023 VNL Loaded with Experience

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 12, 2023) – USA Volleyball is announcing its 30-athlete Men’s National Team roster for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

Volleyball Nations League is the world’s premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round.

The United States is hosting third-round preliminary matches on July 4-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Buy tickets at volleyballworld.com.

Fourteen players from the roster of 30 will be selected to travel to each week’s preliminary round matches.

Ten players with Olympic experience highlight the roster, including seven who won bronze medals at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Three-time Olympians Matt Anderson at opposite and David Smith at middle blocker have the most experience on the team. Libero Erik Shoji, setter Micah Christenson, outside hitters Thomas Jaeschke and Aaron Russell, and middle Max Holt are two-time Olympians.

Outside hitters T.J. DeFalco and Garrett Muagututia, and opposite Kyle Ensing made their Olympic debuts at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Players who have been on previous VNL travel rosters include outside hitters Cody Kessel and Jacob Pasteur, middles Taylor Averill, Patrick Gasman, Jeff Jendryk and Tyler Mitchem, setters Micah Ma’a, James Shaw and Josh Tuaniga, opposites Jake Hanes and Kyle Russell, and liberos Mason Briggs and Kyle Dagostino.

Players on the roster who have not been on a VNL travel roster are outside hitters Ethan Champlin, Jordan Ewert, Kyle McCauley and Brett Wildman, middle Merrick McHenry, opposite Francesco Sani and setter Quinn Isaacson.

The U.S. Men’s Head Coach is John Speraw, who led the UCLA men’s volleyball team to the 2023 NCAA National Championship on May 7. Speraw has been the U.S. Men’s head coach since 2013 and helped them to the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Speraw’s 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.

The U.S. Men are ranked sixth in the world and won the silver medal at the 2022 VNL.

U.S. Men’s National Team 30-Athlete Roster for
2023 Volleyball Nations League

No. Player (Position, Height, Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-10, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State, Western Empire)
2 Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State, Chesapeake)
3 James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif. Stanford, Northern California)
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)
6 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State Univ., Great Lakes)
7 Jacob Pasteur (OH, 6-4, Westminster, Md., Ohio State Univ., Chesapeake)
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)
11 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Southern California, Hawaii)
12 Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State, Ohio Valley)
13 Patrick Gasman (MB, 6-10, Clovis, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
14 Micah Ma’a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)
15 Kyle Russell (OPP, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine, Northern California)
16 Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
17 Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
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)
21 Mason Briggs (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
22 Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ., Hawaii)
23 Cody Kessel (OH, 6-5, Colorado Springs, Colo., Princeton Univ., Rocky Mountain)
24 Brett Wildman (OH, 6-5, Virginia Beach, Va., Penn State Univ., Old Dominion)
25 Ethan Champlin (OH, 6-3, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
26 Merrick McHenry (MB, 6-7, Bedford, Texas, UCLA, North Texas)
27 Tyler Mitchem (MB, 6-11, Bolingbrook, Ill., Lewis Univ., Great Lakes)
28 Francesco Sani  (Opp, 6-8, Bethesda, Md., UC Irvine, Chesapeake)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)
30 Kyle McCauley (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., UC San Diego, Southern California)

Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer, Javier Weber
Second Assistant Coaches: Erik Sullivan, Mike Wall
Performance Analyst and Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Tim Pelot
Team Manager: David Dantes
Sports Psychologist: Andrea Becker
Team Doctors: Andrew Gregory, Christopher Lee, Jeremiah Ray, Michael Shepard, Steven Stovitz, James Suchy, Eugene Yim

U.S. Men’s Schedule for the 2023 VNL
All matches will be broadcast on volleyballworld.tv

Week 1 in Ottawa, Canada
(All times PT)
June 7 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Netherlands
June 8 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Italy
June 10 at 5 p.m. USA vs Canada
June 11 at 11:30 a.m. USA vs Brazil

Week 2 in Rotterdam, Netherlands
June 20 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs Serbia
June 21 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs China
June 23 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs Iran
June 24 at 4 a.m. USA vs Poland

Week 3 in Anaheim, California, USA
July 5 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Cuba
July 7 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Argentina
July 8 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs France
July 9 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Bulgaria