By Megan Kaplon

The first match and a half of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s trip to Ottawa, Canada, for the third week of Volleyball Nations League played out like a nightmare. 

Germany, the Americans’ first opponent in Canada, capped Week 2 with a massive upset of Poland and then shocked the United States with a straight-set defeat on Friday night. 

The dismal 25-19, 25-22, 25-13 scoreline illustrates just how badly Team USA performed, as does the final aces tally: 12 for Germany and four for the USA. 

Jake Langlois led the U.S. with 12 points, but the team made 21 errors overall. 

“This was maybe the worst match I’ve seen our team play in the five years I’ve coached this program, so it’s obviously very disappointing,” head coach John Speraw said. “We just didn’t pass the ball and we didn’t put any pressure on them from our own service line. It was just a complete and total loss on the serve-and-pass side of the game, which is the most important side of winning; and that’s why you saw the scores the way they were.”

Although the U.S. team definitely played poorly, the loss might also have something to do with inspired play from the Germans. The night after taking down Team USA, Germany knocked off Canada in four sets. Germany lost a tough five-set battle to Australia on Sunday but ended the weekend ranked ninth in the standings, up three spots from last week.

POWER ACE!! @MattAnderson_1 with the blistering serve that will not be returned!! #VNL #BePartOfTheGame #volleyball @usavolleyball pic.twitter.com/aECECFqdeC

— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) June 9, 2018

On Saturday night, it looked like more of the same for Team USA. The American squad lined up across the net from Australia—a team with just one VNL win, ranked second from the bottom in the standings—lost the first set 25-20, and were down 11-13 in the second when Speraw called a timeout.

Typically a fairly reserved coach, Speraw let loose on his team, berating them for not playing to their ability and telling them how embarrassing it was that they were losing to Australia—a team the United States men’s volleyball program has never lost a match to.

Speraw’s impassioned speech proved to be the kick in the pants the team needed. A few key defensive plays and all-around wonderful performance by Matt Anderson and Aaron Russell, who ended the night with 20 and 17 points, respectively, helped recapture the intensity and momentum the U.S. men needed to walk away with a win in four sets.

“It took us a while to get into rhythm this weekend,” Speraw said. “I don’t know exactly why, but I was really pleased to see that we played pretty poor volleyball for four sets and then came back. In the middle of the second set, we were down and made a bunch of great plays defensively. We started playing with more confidence and from then on.”

MEGA RALLY SMASH!! Great defense by Canada & the USA, but it's @MattAnderson_1 who ends it with the big spike! #VNL #BePartOfTheGame #volleyball @usavolleyball pic.twitter.com/DLVpFBLOBF

— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) June 10, 2018

Notably in the Australia match, Speraw started Anderson on the left and Ben Patch on the right. He would stick with that same arrangement the following night against Canada. 

Proving that maybe first games just aren’t their thing, the U.S. men let set one slip away from them once again in the match versus the home team on Sunday in Ottawa. But right away, and this time with no major outburst from their coach required, the Americans turned it around in set two, demolishing Canada 25-13. Team USA then motored to victory in four.

Patch led the team this time with 18 points on 14 kills, one block, and three aces, while Anderson contributed 15 from his new home base on the left side. The USA established itself at the net with 14 blocks to Canada’s three. Middle blocker Max Holt led the way in that department with five stuffs.

The Canda match also saw a great performance from 21-year-old T.J. DeFalco, who subbed in for Aaron Russell partway through set three and then started set four. With four kills on eight swings, he finished the match with a .500 hitting percentage, in addition to scoring a stuff block.

There doesn’t seem to be a great explanation for why the U.S. squad couldn’t stop the challenge from Germany and came close to letting it happen again versus Australia, but the team’s ability to turn things around mid-match shows great mental toughness, and hopefully portends good things for the team moving into the last two preliminary pools.

With a 7-2 overall record and 20 points, Team USA sits at fourth in the VNL standings, trailing Poland (8-1, 23 points), Brazil (8-1, 23 points), and France (7-2, 22 points).