Among the 14 U.S. Olympic teams that consist of 100% NCAA athletes, all four of USA's volleyball teams came straight from the collegiate pipeline to the Olympic stage. The men's indoor volleyball team boasts 12 former collegiate stars who represent eight Division I universities and four conferences.
Meet the Team: No. Name, Position (College)
- No. 1 Matt Anderson, opposite (Penn State).
- No. 2 Aaron Russell, outside hitter (Penn State).
- No. 4 Jeff Jendryk, middle blocker (Loyola Chicago).
- No. 8 TJ DeFalco, outside hitter (Long Beach State).
- No. 11 Micah Christenson, setter (Southern California).
- No. 12 Max Holt, middle blocker (Penn State).
- No. 14 Micah Ma'a, setter (UCLA).
- No. 17 Thomas Jaeschke, outside hitter (Loyola Chicago).
- No. 18 Garrett Muagututia, outside hitter (UCLA).
- No. 19 Taylor Averill, middle blocker (Hawaii).
- No. 20 David Smith, middle blocker (UC Irvine).
- No. 22 Erik Shoji, libero (Stanford).
NCAA Experience
Team USA is no stranger to success with the 14 members having a combined 10 NCAA National Collegiate titles among them.
Along with a total of 30 American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America honors, three players earned AVCA Player of the Year accolades during their collegiate careers. DeFalco was a two-time recipient of the award in 2017 and 2019, and Anderson and Jaeschke each won the honor once, in 2008 and 2015, respectfully. DeFalco and libero Shoji earned AVCA first-team All-America honors all four years of college.
Penn State leads the way with three former players being Nittany Lion alumni. UCLA and Loyola Chicago each bring two former volleyball stars while Hawaii, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, Stanford and Southern California have one athlete each on the team.
Olympic Redemption
The men's indoor volleyball team looks to rebound in Paris after finishing 10th in the Tokyo Games. Team USA's most recent medal comes from Rio de Janeiro in 2016 where it won the bronze medal match over Russia. The team also has brought home gold three times in 1984, 1988 and 2008 and another bronze medal in 1992.
Veteran players Anderson and Smith will be making their fourth Olympic appearances for Team USA in Paris. Anderson looks to lead the U.S. men's team in scoring, a title he has held since 2011.
Joining them from the 2016 bronze medalist team for their third Olympics are Christenson, Holt, Jaeschke and Shoji.
DeFalco, Russell and Muagututia round out the remaining returning players as they come back for their second Olympic Games.
Finishing the roster are Olympic rookies Averill, Jendryk and Ma'a.
Tune In
The men's indoor volleyball competition will start Saturday with the preliminary phase, during which the 12 qualified countries will be divided into three pools, each containing four teams.
Team USA enters Pool C with Japan, Germany and 2020 bronze medalist Argentina.
The top two finisher from each pool and the two best third-place teams advance to the final phase, a single-elimination bracket. The final phase commences with the quarterfinals Monday, Aug. 5, and will conclude Saturday, Aug. 10, with the gold medal match.
View the full broadcast schedule for both men's and women's indoor volleyball here.
- 3 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, July 27: U.S. vs Argentina.
- 7 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, July 30: U.S. vs Germany.
- 3 p.m. Eastern time Friday, Aug. 2: Japan vs U.S.
- Monday, Aug. 5: Men's Quarterfinals.
- Wednesday, Aug. 7: Men's Semifinals.
- Friday, Aug. 9: Men's Bronze Medal Match.
- Saturday, Aug. 10: Men's Gold Medal Match.
