Jake Haynes scored 29 points and the U.S. men's team cruised to a four-set victory over the home team on Sunday, sealing a four-match series against Antalya, Turkey, in the first round of the Volleyball Nations League.
After the women's matches this week, the U.S. men's team will play four games in Ottawa, Canada, beginning June 4. And with all 12 Olympic players and reserves practicing in Anaheim last week, we can expect to see the Olympians on the court.
Meanwhile, the women's team is in Arlington, Texas, for the second round of the VNL. We'll have more to say on Tuesday about them and who coach Karch Kiraly has selected for his 14-player roster for matches against Canada, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkey.
Italy and Slovenia were the only teams to advance from the first round of the men's VNL with a 4-0 record, while Cuba, France, Poland and Japan all finished with a 3-1 record.
The U.S. was soundly defeated by Poland and France, and then lost to Bulgaria, leaving them with a record of 1 win and 3 losses.
Haynes, a 6-foot-10 opposite from Orland Park, Ill., who played at Ohio State, had a strong game against Turkey, scoring 29 points on 45 attempts and committing just two errors. He also had two aces.
Patrick Guzman had nine kills, hit .500 from the field, had one ace and three solo blocks. The rest of the team combined for 12 kills, four of which came from Ethan Champlin, who won an NCAA title at UCLA. Champlin also had two aces and seven digs. Kyle D'Agostino had nine digs.
USA coach John Speraw was retained and Andy Reid's team lost to Bulgaria on Saturday. Haynes led the team with 20 points and added an ace and three solo blocks.
He finished the first round with 52 kills, a .410 hitting percentage, three aces and four solo blocks.Haines, who left Ohio State prior to his senior season in 2020, has played for three professional teams: Arago de Sete in France, TS BBTS Bielsko-Biała in Poland and, for the past two years, KGHM Kaplum Rubin in Poland.
Jordan Ewart (we introduced him and his volleyball family last year) totaled 39 kills, two aces and two solo blocks in the first round. Matthew Nigge (featured here last week) recorded 20 points with five kills, six aces and three solo blocks in his VNL debut. Gabbi Garcia, a Puerto Rican who transferred to another federation two years ago and is making her USA VNL debut, recorded 16 kills, two aces and two solo blocks.
That's the U.S. Olympic team roster that we'll likely see when the team goes to Ottawa, plus one other player.
U.S. Men's Olympic Volleyball Team
Player number (position, height, place of birth, university)
1. Matt Anderson (OPP, 6-10, West Seneca, New York, Penn State)
2. Aaron Russell, Ohio State, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State
4. Jeff Jendrick (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola University Chicago)
8. TJ DeFalco (Ohio State, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State University)
11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, USC)
12. Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)
14. Micah Ma'a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA)
17. Thomas Jeschke, Ohio State (6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Chicago University)
18. Garrett Muagtutia (Ohio State, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)
19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii)
20. David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., University of California, Irvine)
22. Eric Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
Official Replacements: 5. Kyle Ensing (OPP, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State University).
