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U.S. Men Hold Off France TULSA, Okla. (June 14, 2013) – The U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team played strong at the net and held off a second-set rally by France as it defeated the European team, 25-15, 29-27, 25-16 on Friday in an FIVB World League match at the Tulsa Convention Center Arena. The United States improved its record to 2-1 in Pool A while France fell to 0-3. The teams will play again at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Tulsa Convention Center Arena. (Buy Tickets) The U.S. led in kills (45-29), in blocks (10-3) and in aces 3-2. Setter Kawika Shoji helped the U.S. to a 54.1 kill percent and a .435 hitting efficiency while France’s kill percent was 30.2 and its hitting efficiency was .115. The U.S. Men scored 24 points on France’s errors while they committed 20.
Carson Clark attacks against France. (FIVB photo)
“In the beginning, our serving was a little rough; we had a lot of errors,” U.S. Team Captain Matt Anderson said. “But when we put the ball in we put pressure on them. Our block was huge tonight. I don’t remember very many balls that got past us without being touched.” Anderson, who was named Player of the Match for the second straight World League match, led all scorers with 22 points on a match-high 17 kills (65.4 kill percent, .615 hitting efficiency), three blocks and two aces. Carson Clark contributed 14 points on 14 kills and Max Holt, who was making his 2013 World League debut, scored 13 points on seven kills and a match-high six blocks. Marien Moreau and Kevin Le Roux each scored eight points for France. The U.S. held Earvin Ngapeth, France’s leading scorer going into the match, to five points. Matt Fuerbringer, in his first season as assistant coach for the U.S. Men, made his debut as head coach on Friday for John Speraw, who plans to return to the team on Saturday after dealing with a personal matter. “It was an honor to be the head coach and the get a win was great,” Fuerbringer said. “I’m already thinking about tomorrow and what we need to do to keep the guys ready. I think we’re going to be in for a dog fight tomorrow, so we’re going to have to make some adjustments and do better in the areas where we didn’t do so well.” In the second set, the U.S. led 18-14 when France scored on a U.S. serving error and two straight aces by Le Roux. Anderson scored with a kill from the back row and the U.S. reached set point first at 24-22. France tied the score on kills by Moreau and Ngapeth and a U.S. violation gave France set point, but Clark tied it with an attack. Team USA reached set point two more times before tying the score at 27-27 on France’s service error, then scoring on a kill by Clark and a tip from Anderson. Max Holt attacks off the set from Kawika Shoji (7). (FIVB photo)
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