The U.S. Men’s National Team walked away from its 1-2 weekend in Modena, Italy, with more to celebrate than that record might indicate.

For one, simply by taking France to five sets on their first night in Italy, the U.S. men guaranteed themselves a spot in the Final Round in Lille, France. 

And two, after losing in straight sets to Russia with starters Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell, Micah Christenson and Erik Shoji on the bench, the team rebounded to cap the preliminary round with a sweep of Italy.

Team USA leaves Modena with an 11-4 overall record and 34 total points and will enter the Final Round as the No. 3-seeded team. Russia and Poland will join Team USA in Pool B, while France, Serbia, and Brazil make up Pool A. 

Against France, head coach John Speraw fielded much the same lineup he utilized in Hoffman Estates the week before following Thomas Jaeschke’s injury: T.J. DeFalco and Aaron Russell on the outside, Anderson on the right, Dan Mcdonnell and David Smith in the middle, Micah Christenson setting, and Erik Shoji as libero. 

Despite 23 points from Anderson, Team USA let a 2-1 lead slip away, and ultimately 44 errors on the American side, compared to 24 on the French side, gave the match to France in five sets.  

As host of the Final Round, France knew it would advance out of the preliminary rounds, but instead of that security creating complacency, France finished pool play with a 12-3 record and the No. 1 seed heading into the next round.

On Saturday night, with a spot in the next round guaranteed, the majority of the U.S. starters took an opportunity to rest, and Team USA struggled to find its rhythm against a tough Russian squad. In the straight-set loss, however, Kyle Ensing stepped up and led with 15 total points. Brenden Sander also earned his national team debut, playing as a sub in the second and third sets.

Ensing’s performance against Russia must have impressed Speraw, because the following night, Ensing started once again at opposite and Anderson moved out to the left, where he led the match with 19 points. Christenson and Shoji also returned to the starting lineup. 

The defense of Team USA held Italy’s Ivan Zaytsev to 12 points in the match, and solid serve receive prevented the Italian captain, who holds the world record for serve speed, from scoring a single ace.

It is perhaps worth noting that Italy entered the match with the USA with no chance of advancing to the Final Round; however, the victory was meaningful for the Americans, who had lost four of the previous five meetings with Italy at the world level.

The men’s national team now heads back to California and will have a week at home to rest and regroup. Then they’ll look forward to a chance at redemption versus Russia and another matchup with Poland in the Final Round.