Head Coach John Speraw has announced the 14 players he will be taking with him to the 2018 FIVB World Championships. Speraw has gone with a primarily veteran staff. Matt Anderson and Dave Smith have played in a pair of Olympics: London in 2012 and Brazil in 2016. Anderson, Smith, Taylor Sander, Micah Christenson, Max Holt, Erik Shoji, and Kawika Shoji all won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil and were on the roster at the 2014 FIVB World Championships in Poland.
All of the 14 players except for Jeff Jendryk played this past season professionally. Jendryk finished his senior season at Loyola University in Chicago. Matt Anderson won a FIVB Club World Championship, CEV Champions League gold medal, Russian Super League title, Russian Cup title, and the Russian Super Cup with Zenit Kazan. Aaron Russell won the Italian SuperLega title with Perugia. Taylor Sander and Micah Christenson won silver medals in the FIVB Club World Championships, the CEV Champions League, the Italian SuperLega, the Coppa Italia, and the Italian SuperCoppa at Lube Civitanova. Dan McDonnell won the Polish Cup with Lotos Trefl Gdansk.
There are not many notable surprises on this roster when looking back at the team composition from the FIVB Volleyball Nations League, the 2017 FIVB Grand Champions Cup, and the 2016 Olympic Games. One surprise to some fans is the lack of T.J. DeFalco on the roster. The outside hitter starting his senior year at Long Beach State was the fourth-leading scorer at the Volleyball Nations League with 93 points on 72 kills, 15 blocks, and 6 aces. Speraw chose to only take 3 outside hitters and 5 middle blockers. One might think that Matt Anderson might be used as an outside hitter at one point instead of his listed position of opposite. Anderson played outside hitter in college and currently plays that position for his club team.
The current roster left on Monday, September 3rd for Ljubljana, Slovenia for a a warm-up tournament from September 6-8 with Slovenia, Canada, and Iran. They will then head to Bari, Italy for Pool C of the World Championships with Russia, Serbia, Australia, Tunisia, and Cameroon. They will open the tournament against Serbia on September 12th. The United States will be looking to win only their second title at this event. They last won the gold medal in 1986.
2018 FIVB World Championships
United States Roster
- 1. Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-9, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State, Zenit Kazan)
- 2. Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State, Diatec Trentino)
- 3C. Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU, Sada Cruziero)
- 4. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago, Berlin Recycling Volleys)
- 7. Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford, Asseco Resovia)
- 10. Dan McDonnell (MB, 6-6, Phoenix, Ariz., UC Irvine, Tourcoing)
- 11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Southern California, Azimut Modena)
- 12. Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State, Azimut Modena)
- 13. Ben Patch (Opp, 6-8, Provo, Utah, BYU, Berlin Recycling Volleys)
- 18. Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU, MKS Będzin)
- 19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii, Chaumont 52 VB)
- 20. David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine, Asseco Resovia)
- 21. Dustin Watten (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State, Berlin Recycling Volleys)
- 22. Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford, Fakel Urengoy)
United States Roster by Position
- Setters: Micah Christenson, Kawika Shoji
- Outside Hitters: Aaron Russell, Taylor Sander, Jake Langlois
- Middle Blockers: Dave Smith, Dan McDonnell, Max Holt, Jeff Jendryk, Taylor Averill
- Opposites: Matt Anderson, Ben Patch
- Liberos: Erik Shoji, Dustin Watten
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Rob Neilson and Brian Thornton
Team Manager: Nate Ngo
Technical Coordinator: Nate Ngo
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Team Psychologist: Andrea Becker
Team Doctors: Andrew Gregory and David Dyck
Scout Coach: Jon Parry
Consultant Coach: Mike Wall
Strength Coach: Tim Pelot
Leave a Reply