USA Volleyball

How Does Team USA Match Up Against Its World League Opponents?

How Does Team USA Match Up Against Its World League Opponents?

The U.S. Men’s National Team returns home this week to play three World League matches at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. Find out how it matches up against its opponents.

Jul 1, 2016 by Megan Kaplon
How Does Team USA Match Up Against Its World League Opponents?
The U.S. Men’s National Team returns home this week to play three World League matches at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. The event runs concurrently with USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior Nationals and will feature matches versus Bulgaria, Australia and Russia. Curious as to how the boys in red, white and blue match up against the teams on this weekend’s slate? Here’s the rundown on each of Team USA’s World League Pool H1 opponents.

USA vs. Bulgaria


Friday, July 1, 8:30 p.m. ET.

The Bulgarian men finished fourth at the London Olympics, losing to Italy in four sets in the bronze-medal match. A year later, the team finished fourth in the 2013 World League competition, matching up against USA twice during the tournament. Bulgaria won one of those meetings, with the U.S. claiming the upper hand in the second.

In 2014, the U.S. and Bulgaria met four times, with a much-improved American squad winning all but one of those matches.

Bulgaria struggled in the 2015 World League tournament where it finished 10th, and so far in this year’s competition, the team is 0-6 and ranked 11th out of 12 teams.

Opposite Tsvetan Sokolov leads the Bulgarian offense. The 6-9 attacker has contributed a team-high number of kills in all of his team’s matches so far in the tournament, and Bulgaria will need him to have the match of his career to defeated the American team that is currently riding high on the momentum of its 3-0 run in Rome last weekend.



USA vs. Australia


Saturday, July 2, 8:30 p.m. ET

Australia, too, has struggled so far in the 2016 World League competition. The 0-6 Australian men will be looking for their first win of the tournament this weekend in Dallas, but they will be unlikely to find it in Saturday’s match versus Team USA. The two teams met twice in 2014, with the U.S. winning both times, and just last week, they played in Rome and the American squad emerged victorious in four sets, in large part thanks to 18 kills from Matt Anderson.

Pepperdine alumnus and 2009 AVCA National Player of the Year Paul Carroll will be Australia’s biggest offensive threat. The 6-9 opposite has led his team in kills in all but two of Australia’s World League matches.



USA vs. Russia


Sunday, July 3, 1:30 p.m. ET

Sunday’s match between the No. 3-ranked Russia and No. 5-ranked USA will be by far the highlight of the weekend. The three-time World League champion Russians are 3-3 in 2016 World League competition after losing to Serbia, France and Argentina. Historically, Russia has been one of the best men’s volleyball teams in the world, winning four Olympic gold medals and six World Championships; however, so far in this quad, Team USA holds an 8-2 head-to-head advantage.

Russia and USA are the only teams playing in Dallas that will also compete in the Olympics, and this match could easily serve as a preview for a medal match in Rio. Players to watch on the Russian squad include 21-year-old opposite Egor Kliuka, 20-year-old opposite Victor Poletaev, 7-2 middle blocker Dmitriy Muserskiy and opposite Kostyantyn Bakun.

Want to really get a feel for Russia before Sunday’s match? Watch this full-match video of Russia vs. France: