FIVB World Ranking: 3rd
Planned to participate in the Tokyo Olympics
Registered Members
#1 Matthew Anderson OP, OH/ 34/ 202/ 360 ★
#3 Taylor Sander OH/ 29/ 196/ 345 ★
#4 Jeffrey Gendrick MB/ 25/ 208/ 353
#5 Kyle Ensing OP/ 24/ 201/ 366 ★
#6 Mitchell Staal MB/ 26/ 203/ 350 ★
#7 Kawika Shoji S/ 33/ 190/ 331 ★
#8 Tory Defalco OH/ 24/ 198/ 340 ★
#9 Jake Hance OP/ 29/ 208/ 365
11 Micah Christenson S/ 28/ 198/ 349 ★
12 Maxwell Holt MB/ 34/ 205/ 351 ★
13 Benjamin Patch OP/ 26/ 203/ 382
15 Brenden Sander OH/ 25/ 195/ 360
16 Joshua Tuaninga S/ 24/ 191/ 320
17 Thomas Jeske OH/ 27/ 198/ 348 ★
18 Garrett Muagtutia OH/ 33/ 205/ 359 ★
19 Taylor Avril MB/ 29/ 201/ 370
20 David Smith MB/ 36/ 201/ 348 ★
21 Dustin Watten L/ 34/ 182/ 306
22 Eric Shoji L/ 31/ 184/ 330 ★
★ is a member of the Tokyo Olympics team.
Director: John Sparrow
VNL2021 results (as of the end of Day 12)
vs Canada ○3-0
vs Brazil ●0-3
vs Argentina ○3-1
vs Russia 1-3
vs Poland 0-3
vs Australia ○3-0
vs Iran ●0-3
vs Germany ○3-0
vs Serbia ●1-3
vs Italy ○3-0
vs France ●1-3
vs Netherlands ○3-2
vs Slovenia ●2-3
vs Bulgaria ○3-0
7 wins, 21 points, 7th place
Main starting lineup
S11 Christenson, OH3 Sander, MB20 Smith, OP1 Anderson, OH18 Muagtuia, MB12 Holt, L22 Shoji
Team Characteristics
The familiar strong nation of the United States. In the early stages of the tournament, they played various matches while trying out various players, including young players, but last week the 12 members of the Tokyo Olympic team were announced, and the captainThunderAfter joining the team, the team went into serious mode with the Olympic team members at the core. As I wrote in a previous article, Thunder, the outside hitter who was the main source of points, had been suffering from injuries for a long time, and if the Olympics had been held last year as scheduled, he probably would not have been able to be a member of the team. He finally started playing in earnest for his club from the second half of last season, and this is his long-awaited return to the national team.
However, it is unfortunate that, in exchange for Sander's return, his opposite number Russell was unable to play due to injury. Also, Patch, who was a personal favorite, lost the reserve opposite position to Ensing and was not included in the Olympic team.
Of course, the other members of the team are also luxurious. Opposite, who has participated in two Olympic Games, London and Rio, and has been active for many years with big clubs in Russia and Italy,AndersonAs one of the world's top setters, she delivers strong and stable sets.ChristensonA quick-hitting midfielder with speed, a good blocker who can torment opponents, and can also play the guitar.HoltHe is the world's best libero alongside France's Grebennikov.Eric SchorgeAnd many more gorgeous items.
Sander and Anderson's back
I think they will challenge Japan with a similarly serious team. This is the last official match before the Olympics, and it's a good chance to see how well they can do against a serious American team. It will be really tough to beat this team, but I hope Japan will show us their best performance. As the culmination of this VNL2021, let's look forward to seeing a great match that will lead to the Olympics, regardless of the result.
Match time: Wednesday 23rd, 20:00 (Japan time)
Volleyball TVLive broadcast on
Star chart here
Anderson was also featured in the Handsome Men feature (lol)
Photo: FIVB
English 
Japanese