By Megan Kaplon

All the pieces were in place for the U.S. Men’s National Team to take over the No. 1 spot in the Volleyball Nations League standings. 

The Americans won their first two matches of Week 2 against Japan and Korea, and early Sunday, previous standings leader Poland lost its first match of the tournament. With a 2-0 lead over Brazil in their last match of the week, the U.S. men appeared well on their way to becoming the tournament’s new No. 1. 

But the Brazilians, who are the oldest of all the 16 teams in VNL and have retained almost their entire Olympic-gold-medal winning roster from two years ago, countered Team USA’s hot start and enthusiasm with wisdom and determination, winning sets three and four to push the match to five. 

In the fifth set, head coach John Speraw made a switch in the lineup, moving Matt Anderson to the outside and bringing in Ben Patch on the right, and it almost worked. Patch hit 1.000 with five kills on five attempts, and the USA had three match points in the fifth set.

U.S. Men had 3 match points, but fall to Brazil, 21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 20-18 for United States' first #VNL loss. Anderson leads all scorers w/23 points on 22 kills and 1 ace. We move on to Canada for the next round. #VNL #USAVmnt pic.twitter.com/OqX6XBzAlh

— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) June 3, 2018

But Brazil, led by Wallace De Souza and Mauricio Borges Almeida Silva, with 21 and 20 points respectively, ultimately won the match 21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 20-18. 

The loss means that the U.S., Brazil, and Poland all have 5-1 VNL records heading into Week 3. With 15 points each, Brazil and Poland sit tied for first, while the U.S. ranks third with 14 points.

Earlier in the week against Japan, Team USA let the first and second set slip away before roaring back to a five-set victory. Between the second and third set, head coach John Speraw made a number of lineup changes, putting in Ben Path, Thomas Jaeschke, Taylor Averill, and Kawika Shoji, in place of Anderson, TJ DeFalco, David Smith, and Micah Christenson. 

Despite not playing at all in the first set and only part of the second, Patch led the match with 18 points, while Jaeschke tallied 10, and Averill seven.

The next night against Korea, another slow start almost gave the Koreans their first set victory of the tournament; however, a late push resulted in an American victory 25-23. Throughout the next two sets, Team USA became more consistent and won the second 25-21 and then dominated in the third, winning 25-11. 

In his Nations League debut, former BYU Cougar Jake Langlois led the team with 15 points.

We are a team! It’s fun to play for @usavolleyball. Gotta keep learning and getting better. Long way to go together. https://t.co/7H1R6XTUQt

— Kawika Shoji (@Kshoji7) June 1, 2018

Against Korea, Speraw chose to experiment with using both Erik Shoji and Dustin Watten in the libero position. The two men also shared the position on Sunday versus Brazil, with Watten primarily playing defense and Shoji coming in for serve receive.

Only two weeks into the six-week-long tournament, Speraw is clearly still experimenting with his lineup. Christenson, Russell, and Anderson joined the team in Brazil for the first time this season, and integrating three new players into the lineup likely contributed to this week’s inconsistencies.

As we look forward to next week’s matches in Ottawa versus Germany, Australia and Canada, Jaeschke and Russell seem to be the most likely candidates to lock down the starting outside hitter positions. That said, moving Anderson to the outside in the fifth set versus Brazil hints at Speraw’s willingness to give that strategy a try in order to keep both Anderson and Patch, two of the most dangerous offensive weapons on the roster, on the floor at the same time. 

And, of course, we can’t forget about outside hitter Taylor Sander, who led the team in points in two of the first three matches, but was not included on this week’s 14-player roster.

The double-libero strategy seems promising and allows Team USA to utilize the calm precision and technicality of Shoji’s serve receive, while also benefiting from the fast, athletic defense of Watten. It seems likely we will continue to see this as the tournament goes on.

In the middle, 22-year-old Jeff Jendryk put up huge blocks against Brazil, stuffing the more experienced Brazilian hitters four times in the match, and it is safe to expect him to continue getting the starting nod; however, Averill, Smith, and Max Holt have all also started in at least two matches each so far in VNL. 

Overall, the takeaway from this week’s action is that there’s a lot to be excited about as a fan of U.S. men’s volleyball. 

Young talent has flooded into the national team gym, and once Speraw figures out the most lethal combination of players to put on the floor, and the team gains a little more rhythm mental toughness, the result versus Brazil might be different.