Olympics
July 21, 2024
Rested and ready.
“This year the focus has been to be at our best when we step on the court in Paris,” USA men’s Olympic volleyball coach John Speraw said. “This is a veteran team and they need to be feeling rested and strong and healthy. And it has been a challenge for us. It hasn’t been the smoothest of summers in that regard, but we’re starting to get healthy and have had some good training.”
Accordingly the USA men’ took advantage of a less-than-steller Volleyball Nations League performance that allowed for downtime, practice and healing.
Which is why Speraw didn’t mind that his team did not make the final eight and qualify for the VNL quarterfinals.
For that matter, had the USA even made it, the Olympic team was not going to Łódź, Poland. Speraw, as he did in the first round of VNL, would have sent a squad that did not include any of the players headed to Paris for next week’s Olympics.
“We had made a decision even when were in the Philippines (for the third round) that even if we qualified for the finals we were going to send the top guys home and send a second group to the finals,” Speraw said. “We knew what we needed to do, which was get home, get healthy and train.
“And I think that was a unanimous feeling across the board.”
So as he waited to board a plane last week, first to train in Poland and then head on to Paris, Speraw oozed of optimism.
“I’m ready to go. I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to Poland, ready to lock in, I’m ready to get past some of the Olympic prep distractions that are inevitable as part of the process. I need to get into a hotel and just watch a ton of video and get ready for these matches and be locked in with our guys.
“I’m excited to do that and I know this group of guys has been together for a long time. In many ways, it’s the end of an era. I know a bunch of these guys who will return, but this group of this iteration of USA Volleyball have had a great decade.
“And I want them to finish on top.”
Three years later
In a nutshell, here we are three years after Tokyo, when the USA men opened Olympics play in 2021 by sweeping France. France went on to win the gold medal; the USA failed to get out of pool play.
In 2022, the USA took silver in VNL, losing in five to that same France team. Later that summer, the Americans got bronze in the NORCECA Pan American Cup and then finished the year sixth at the FIVB World Championship.
Last year the USA lost in the gold-medal match of VNL to Poland, took fifth at the NORCECA Pan American Cup, won the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship, won the NORCECA Men’s Final Six Pan American Cup, and then clinched its spot in Paris with a 7-0 performance in the FIVB Road to Paris Olympic Qualifier,
What’s more, this team has — with a few tweaks — been together a long time. It’s a group of seasoned veterans.
And even if they weren’t going to Poland for the VNL finals, they went there last week to play some friendlies, acclimate to the time zone, and be, hopefully, at their best when the Olympics start next week.
The USA opens play Saturday, facing Argentina at 9 p.m. local time.
“It won’t be a match where I have to walk into the locker room and give a motivational speech,” Speraw said. “They’re ready to go and I’m ready to compete with them.”
After two days off, the Americans play Germany at 1 p.m. and then finish pool play on Friday, August 2, with a 9 p.m. match against Japan. Paris is six hours ahead of Eastern time; nine hours ahead of Pacific.
The top two teams in each of the three pools advance to the quarterfinals along with the highest-ranked third-place finishers.
The USA went 2-1 against its three pool-play opponents in VNL and most likely will have to do that again.
In Volleyball Nations League, the USA swept Argentina to start the second week in Ottawa, Canada. Aaron Russell led with 12 kills and a block. TJ DeFalco had 10 kills, two blocks and an ace, and Matt Anderson had 10 kills and two blocks.
The USA beat Germany in four on June 21, as Anderson went off for 20 kills and three aces. DeFalco had 18 kills, a block and an ace. Jeff Jendryk had six kills and four blocks and David Smith had five kills and four blocks.
Two days later, however, the USA got swept by Japan to finish VNL. Kyle Ensing, the official alternate and 13th USA player on the Olympics roster, led with 14 kills. Japan went on to lose to France in the VNL title match.
The team of 30-somethings
Just four of the 13 are younger than 30 and everyone on the team is at least 27.
Here is the roster by position with ages in parentheses:
Outsides — TJ DeFalco (27), Thomas Jaeschke (30), Garrett Muagututia (36), Aaron Russell (31)
Middles — Taylor Averill (32), Max Holt (37), Jeff Jendryk (28), David Smith (39)
Opposite — Matt Anderson (37)
Setters — Micah Christenson (31), Micah Ma’a (27)
Libero — Erik Shoji (34)
Alternate — Kyle Ensing (27)
Anderson and Smith are in their fourth Olympics after playing in London in 2012 and winning bronze in Rio in 2016. Christenson, Holt, Jaeschke and Shoji are in their third Olympics, while DeFalco, Russell and Muagututia are in their second. Russell was on the 2016 team but didn’t make it to Tokyo.
“Mattie is in real great shape and playing well. David’s been a little banged up but he’s coming back and we expect that he’ll be available for us when the first ball drops,” Speraw said.
Christenson and Shoji joined the national team in Speraw’s first year as head coach, in 2013. Holt was already in the program and Russell and Jaeschke came on board the next year.
“There’s a lot of experience here,” Speraw said.
The likely starters are Anderson, Christenson, DeFalco, Russell, Holt, Smith and Shoji.
Much of the focus will be on the 6-foot-5 DeFalco, who has established himself as one of the best players in the world.
“He’s a really dynamic athlete with an incredible arm who creates a ton of stress,” Speraw said. “And he has the ability to go back and be our best server in terms of the velocity he can bring and the pressure he can put on passers. I’m hoping he has a great serving tournament.”
(We interviewed DeFalco earlier this month. Click here to see the video.)
Jendryk is likely the first player off the bench and Jaeschke, a strong passer, can lift a team from the service line.
“There are some options I have on the bench, if we need a spark or if a guy needs a break or a reset,” Speraw said. “I can make some different moves.”
Speraw took just one opposite but has choices there, too. DeFalco, the team’s strongest hitter, moves comfortably to the right side. Jaeschke can play there, and so can Russell.
“We have some versatile pins,” Speraw said. “Sometimes you have some outside hitters who can only play away from the setter, but we have a bunch of guys who can play next to the setter and hit on the right.”
Ensing, a 2021 Olympian, is also an opposite, which sets up an interesting scenario.
“He’s a very versatile, good all-around volleyball player,” Speraw said.
Originally the FIVB put in the 13th player as a one-time sub and once that player was put on the 12-team roster, the player he replaced was no eligible to return. But that has been changed and Speraw admitted not knowing to what degree he and other coaches can use that to their advantage.
“We’ll see how this all gets applied. I mean, this is potentially a true alternate … I don’t know how they’re going to enforce this just being an easy in and out. I do like the idea of having more rostered players,” Speraw said.
“We all know it’s been a challenge over the years to go from 14 players in every single tournament you play in the entire quad to 12 (for the Olympics).
“Regardless of how they apply it or the ultimate decision in how this works, I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
There is also a 14th player who is not eligible to compete no matter what, but for the purpose of having seven players per team for practices, libero Kyle Dagostino is with the squad.
“We have the option to bring in for training extra players,” Speraw said. “So we’re still looking at that based on the health of our guys. If we need to bring in more players we can.”
Three tough matches ahead
Going from two pools of six teams each — with the top four on each side getting through — to three pools of four creates a different set of pressures, especially from the start.
“There seems to be little room for error from the beginning,” Speraw said. “In the last couple of Olympics you’ve seen multiple times where teams start out slow and come back and finish very strong. We were one of them, in Rio. In Tokyo, that was France. If France started out like that in a three-team pool it would have been over.”
Indeed, because after losing to the USA, France beat Tunisia but then lost in five to Argentina. Going 1-2 in pool play will not get you through in Paris.
“There’s more pressure in these matches. With our particular team right now, having two days off between every match, I think it’s beneficial for this group,” Speraw said. “For us this time around I like it. But I am a little suspect of how it’s all going to work out with the points ratio.”
In the current world rankings, Poland is No. 1, followed by Japan, Italy, France and Slovenia. The USA is No. 6, Brazil is No. 7, and Argentina is No. 8. Germany is No. 11, but Speraw said that team is better than that with the return of 39-year-old opposite György Grozer.
“When steps onto the court Germany becomes a top team. They beat Italy and Brazil in the (Olympic) qualifier last year. And Japan is the most improved team in the quad for sure, and Argentina always competes so hard.”
Speraw paused.
“I think this is a really challenging pool.”
Pools A, B, C
The USA is in Pool C.
Pool A includes Canada, France, Slovenia and Serbia.
Pool B has Brazil, Egypt, Italy and Poland.
The quarterfinals are on Monday, August 5. The semifinals are Wednesday, August, 7, the bronze-medal match on Friday, August 9, and the gold-medal match is on Saturday, August 10.
