2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League

U.S. Men Set FIVB Volleyball Nations League Roster

U.S. Men Set FIVB Volleyball Nations League Roster

The U.S. Men’s National Team has set its 26-player preliminary roster for the inaugural FIVB Volleyball Nations League.

May 8, 2018 by Kolby Paxton
U.S. Men Set FIVB Volleyball Nations League Roster

The 26-player preliminary roster is set for the U.S. men's national team in advance of the inaugural FIVB Volleyball Nations League that opens the 2018 season.

Watch the FIVB Volleyball Nations League LIVE on FloVolleyball

The group, which includes nine Olympians and two sets of brothers, looks like this:

Setters (4)

James Shaw (Woodside, CA), Kawika Shoji (Honolulu, HI), Micah Christenson (Honolulu, HI), Jonah Seif (Thousand Oaks, CA)

Opposites (6)

Matt Anderson (West Seneca, NY), Carson Clark (Santa Barbara, CA), Ben Patch (Provo, UT), David Wieczorek (Chicago, IL), Miles Johnson (Carlsbad, CA), Kyle Ensing (Valencia, CA)

Outside Hitters (7)

Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, MD), Taylor Sander (Huntington Beach, CA), TJ DeFalco (Huntington Beach, CA), Brenden Sander (Huntington Beach, CA), Jayson Jablonsky (Yorba Linda, CA), Thomas Jaeschke (Wheaton, IL), Jake Langlois (San Jose, CA)

Middle Blockers (6)

Jeff Jendryk (Wheaton, IL), Mitch Stahl (Chambersburg, PA), Dan McDonnell (Phoenix, AZ), Max Holt (Cincinnati, OH), Taylor Averill (San Jose, CA), David Smith (Saugus, CA)

Liberos (3)

Dustin Watten (Long Beach, CA), Erik Shoji (Honolulu, HI), Michael Brinkley (Huntington Beach, CA)

The roster will be trimmed to 21 players by May 15, after which point the team will be required to select 14 players to participate each week. Every country in the Volleyball Nations League is required to announce its 14-player roster two days before each week’s round of matches.

The VNL is moving into its first year in place of the FIVB World Grand Prix and World League. The league will feature five weeks of preliminary round matches, with 16 teams participating in one of four round-robin groups around the world.

The U.S. men enter the season ranked No. 2 in the world by the FIVB and will play on American soil on June 15 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

The Volleyball Nations League season, in its entirety, will be streamed live on FloVolleyball.

U.S. Men's National Team Preliminary Volleyball Nations League Roster

1. Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-9, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State)
2. Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State)
3. Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4. Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)
5. James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif., Stanford)
6. Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-8, Chambersburg, Pa., UCLA)
7. Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
8. T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
9. Carson Clark (Opp, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine)
10. Dan McDonnell (MB, 6-6, Phoenix, Ariz., UC Irvine)
11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Southern California)
12. Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)
13. Ben Patch (Opp, 6-8, Provo, Utah, BYU)
14. David Wieczorek (Opp, 6-8, Chicago, Ill., Pepperdine)
15. Brenden Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
16. Jayson Jablonsky (OH, 6-6, Yorba Linda, Calif., UC Irvine)
17. Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola)
18. Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
19. Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii)
20C. David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine)
21. Dustin Watten (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
22. Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
23. Jonah Seif (S, 6-6, Thousand Oaks, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
24. Michael Brinkley (L, 5-10, Huntington Beach, Calif., UC Irvine)
25. Miles Johnson (Opp, 6-6, Carlsbad, Calif., Ohio State)
26. Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State)


FIVB Volleyball Nations League Schedule

May 25-27: China, Bulgaria, Argentina in China                                                              
June 1-3: Brazil, Japan Korea in Brazil                                                                  
June 8-10: Canada, Germany, Australia in Canada                                                                          
June 15-17: Serbia, Poland, Iran in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
June 22-24: Italy, Russia, France in Italy