U.S. Volleyball Takes Silver at VNL Finals
July 15, 2019 | Men's Volleyball
Russia repeated as the Volleyball Nations League champions after handing the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team a four-set defeat in the VNL Finals played in Chicago on Sunday. Scores of the match were 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20. The U.S. Men led in kills (51-49), but had a kill percentage of 49.5 while Russia's was 53.2. Bruins Garrett Muagututia (UCLA 2007-10) and Micah Ma'a (UCLA 2016-19) each saw action off the bench in the gold medal match.
U.S. Head Coach John Speraw saw his team struggling in service and reception. "We just got beat by a team that was a little bit better than us tonight," Speraw said. "There were some ebbs and flows where I thought we were the better team. Then they just made a lot of plays from the service line. We didn't serve the ball as well as we needed to give ourselves scoring opportunities. They got more efficient offensively as the night went on."
VNL Finals Summary - all matches played in Chicago
July 14 Championship Match
Russia d. U.S. 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20
Garrett Muagututia - saw action off the bench and totaled 4 kills, 1 block, 1 ace
Micah Ma'a - played as a reserve
July 13 Semifinals
U.S. d. Brazil 25-21, 17-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-9
Garrett Muagututia - saw action off the bench and had1 kill, 1 block
Micah Ma'a - dnp
July 12 Pool Play
U.S. d. Russia 25-21, 25-17, 25-20
Garrett Muagututia - saw action off the bench and totaled 5 kills, 1 ace
Micah Ma'a - dnp
July 10 Pool Play
U.S. d. France 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21
Garrett Muagututia and Micah Ma'a - dnp
Note - Qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics begins Aug. 9 with pool play matches in Rotterdam, Netherlands (U.S. is in a pool with Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea)
