United States win first in VNL 2019

KATOWICE, Poland, June 2, 2919 – The U.S. Men’s National Team got its first win of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, 3-1 (19-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16) over Australia on Sunday in Katowice, Poland.

The U.S. Men will travel to Ufa, Russia for their next three matches (vs. Italy, Russia and Portugal) with a 1-2 record.

U.S. Head Coach John Speraw started his third new lineup of the tournament, starting designated setter Micah Ma’a at outside hitter with Taylor Sander. David Smith and Jeff Jendryk started in middle. Mitch Stahl took over for Jendryk in the second set.

Josh Tuaniga started at setter, Kyle Ensing at opposite and Dustin Watten at libero.

The U.S. led in kills (47-39) with a hitting percentage of .398. Australia hit .273.

The U.S. led in blocks (11-7) and aces (6-4). Each team finished with 32 scoring errors.

Sander led all scorers with 19 points on 16 kills, two blocks and one ace. Ensing scored 14 on 10 kills, two blocks and two aces. Ma’a totaled 12 points on nine kills, one block and two aces.