Each week, the U.S. coaching staff will choose 14 players from the 25-man roster to compete in the VNL preliminary matches as well as the final round. The U.S. is hosting the VNL Final Round on July 10-14 in Chicago and automatically qualifies for that event. The U.S. begins VNL preliminary round play on May 31-June 2 in Poland (U.S. vs. Brazil, Poland, Australia). On June 7-9, Russia will host VNL competition (U.S. vs. Italy, Russia, Portugal) followed by France from June 14-16 (U.S. vs. Argentina, Germany, France). The United States will host a preliminary round weekend on June 21-23 in the Chicago area (U.S. vs. Japan, Canada, China). The final preliminary round matches will be played in Bulgaria beginning on June 28 (U.S. vs. Bulgaria, Serbia and Iran).
Nine players return from the 2016 Olympic Team roster, including two-time Olympians Matt Anderson and David Smith. Rounding out the group are Taylor Sander, Aaron Russell, Thomas Jaeschke, Max Holt, Micah Christenson, Kawika Shoji and Erik Shoji.
U.S. Men's Preliminary 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 - Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State)
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 - Jake Langlois (OH, 6-10, San Jose, Calif., BYU)
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 - Micah Ma'a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA)
16 - Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
17 - Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola)
18 - Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)
19 - Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Hawaii)
20 - 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 - Larry Tuileta Jr. (L, 6-2, Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii)
24 - Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Fla., Stanford)
25 - Kyle Russell (Opp, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine)
26 - Michael Saeta (S, 6-5, South Pasadena, Calif., UC Irvine)