Team USA Dominates Serbia 3-0

In Set One, Team USA started Sean Rooney, Matt Anderson and David Lee in the front row with Max Holt, Micah Christenson and Taylor Sander across the back row. Erick Shoji was the libero. Watching the first set it appeared Serbia was going to squeak out a set win. They broke a 17 � 17 tie jumping to a 19-17 lead after Sean Rooney hit the antennae attempting to avoid a three man block. This caused Coach John Speraw to call his first time out. Both teams traded points until Serbia had set point at 24-22 causing Team USA to call their second time out. After the break, Matt Anderson placed a roll shot and veteran David Lee demonstrated his long time blocking prowess by single handedly shutting down a middle attack tying it up again at 24-24. Aleksander Atanasijevic keep the Serbians a point ahead until Sean Rooney tooled the block after a great joint pancake save from Christenson and Shoji. Another Sander tool kill and a Rooney service ace off the top tape sealed the set at 30-28 for Team USA. Matt Anderson led the set with 8 kills with Max Holt adding 2 blocks and an ace.

After Serbia played a tough first set but lost, it seemed fatigue set in. Team USA jumped to a 3-0 lead and lead by as many as five points throughout most of the set. Serbia made a run late in the set getting as close as 20-21 with a Kovacevic line shot. Anderson started a closing 4 point run with a tool shot followed by Serbian hitting errors and a net violation. Team USA won set two 25-20. Anderson added 9 more kills to have a total of 17 after just two sets.

Dragan Stankovic started out with a 2 point serving run including an ace but it fell apart for Team Serbia after that. Team USA led a balanced attack stretching the lead from 8-4 to 12-5 to eventually 19-10. A small run by Team Serbia cut the lead briefly but Team USA closed out the match 25-16 with a stuff block.

Matt Anderson had a total of 25 points on 22 kills and Taylor Sander added 15 points on 14 kills. Aleksander Atanasijevic led Serbia with 13 points, all on kills.

Both teams play again on Saturday night. Both coaches anticipate a better match with Serbia getting better adjusted to their travel.