U.S. Men Suffer First 2021 VNL Match Loss to Brazil

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 29, 2021) – The U.S. Men’s National Team dropped its first match of the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Saturday to Brazil, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-19) in Rimini, Italy.

The U.S. Men (1-1) will be looking for a comeback against Argentina (0-2) on Sunday (7 a.m. PDT). All VNL matches are being shown on VolleyballWorld.tv.

U.S. Men’s Head Coach John Speraw adjusted his lineup on Saturday, starting Thomas Jaeschke and T.J. DeFalco at outside hitter, Jeff Jendryk and Mitch Stahl at middle blocker, Ben Patch at opposite, Micah Christenson at setter and Erik Shoji at libero.

OFFICIAL STATISTICS

Garrett Muagututia subbed for Jaeschke in the third set.

Jaeschke, Jendryk, Stahl and Patch made their 2021 VNL debuts.

The group hung tough through the first two sets, but Brazil’s powerful offense overcame the U.S. defenses.

Patch led all scorers with 18 points on 15 kills and a team-high three blocks. DeFalco added 10 points on seven kills, two aces and a block.

Stahl totaled eight points on five kills, two blocks and an ace.  Jendryk scored seven points on five kills and two blocks. Jaeschke scored five points on four kills and one block.

Christenson scored one point on an ace. Shoji was credited with two digs and four successful receptions. DeFalco led in receptions with 12.

The U.S. Men led in blocking (9-7) but trailed in kills (40-36) and aces (6-4). Brazil also scored 22 points on U.S. errors, mostly service errors, while the U.S. scored 15 points on Brazil’s miscues. Brazil’s hitting efficiency was .363 while the U.S. Men hit .253.

U.S. Men’s National Team 14-Person Roster for May 29

No. Player (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago)
5 Kyle Ensing (OP, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State Univ.)
6 Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-8, Chambersburg, Pa., Univ. of California Los Angeles)
7 Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ.)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ.)
11 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Southern California)
12 Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State Univ.)
13 Ben Patch (OP, 6-8, Layton, Utah, Brigham Young Univ.)
15 Brenden Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., Brigham Young Univ.)
17 Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago)
18 Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., Univ. of California Los Angeles)
20 David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., Univ. of California Irvine)
21 Dustin Watten (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ.)
22 Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ.)

Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Brian Thornton and Matthew Fuerbringer
Athletic Trainers: Aaron Brock and Timothy Pelot
Team Manager and Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo

U.S. Men’s Schedule for FIVB Volleyball Nations League (all times Pacific)

May 28: USA def Canada, 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-20)
May 29: Brazil def USA, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-19)
May 30 at 7 a.m.: USA vs Argentina

June 3 at noon: Russia vs USA
June 4 at 9 a.m.: Poland vs USA
June 5 at 9 a.m.: USA vs Australia

June 9 at 7 a.m.: Iran vs USA
June 10 at 7 a.m.: Germany vs USA
June 8 at 7 a.m.: USA vs Serbia

June 15 at noon: Italy vs USA
June 16 at 10:30 a.m.: USA vs France
June 17 at 9 a.m.: Netherlands vs USA

June 21 at 9 a.m.: Slovenia vs USA
June 22 at 4 a.m.: Bulgaria vs USA
June 23 at 4 a.m.: USA vs Japan

June 26: Semifinals 1 and 2
June 27: Bronze and Gold medal matches