PARIS — All things considered — and there was a lot to consider — the USA men will take it.
And then some.
In a match eerily similar to the one their USA women counterparts lost on Monday, the Americans came away with a 25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 15-11 victory Tuesday over Germany and clinched a spot in the Paris Olympics quarterfinals.
Which, in the grand scheme of things, is all that matters, especially for a team that remembers all too well three years ago in Tokyo. That’s when the USA beat France in its first match and then failed to get out of pool play, and France went on to win gold.
In this case, after sweeping Argentina on Saturday and holding off the Germans when it mattered most, that whooshing sound coming out of Arena Paris Sud 1 was a deep exhale mixed in with exuberance.
“Coming back in the fifth … It was huge,” veteran opposite Matt Anderson said. “It was for us to have that test in the Olympics and get a little more insight into what it’s like to win an Olympic game under pressure.”
The USA finishes Pool C play Friday against Japan with an eye on bettering its seed in the quarterfinals. Japan plays Argentina on Wednesday.
The fifth set was a roller-coaster ride. Germany went ahead 5-4 and coach John Speraw called time and his team responded in a huge way. Libero Erik Shoji came up with a pass off off a serve by Gyorgy Grozer measured at 121 kilometers per hour, Micah Christenson made an off-balance set, and Anderson delivered the kill.
That brought Max Holt to the service line and the middle buried an ace. And then he did it again, painting the right sideline near the corner and suddenly it was 7-5 USA. It was 8-5 on Taylor Averill’s stuff block of Mortiz Karlitzek, which forced Germany into a timeout.
It didn’t help, because Aaron Russell came flying out of the back row for a kill and then did it again to make it 10-5.
“I was telling Micah they’re not looking at me, they’re watching our middles or the pins and I told him to look for me and he trusted me in that situation and I’m happy he gave me a good situation to spike,” Russell said.
Germany used its final timeout and finally broke Holt’s service run with a kill by Karlitzek.
“We need a little something and I happened to be that guy today,” Holt said.
Things got dicey when Germany scored three more points, but after Speraw called time again, Lukas Maase served into the net. That was, in essence, Germany’s last chance. Russell got a kill to make it 13-9 and TJ DeFalco aced the Germans to make it 14-9.
Germany scored two points.
After two German points, the match ended with Johannes Tille serving into the net. The USA finished with 11 service aces, while Germany had six.
“Our guys started out great, they made some changes and shifted the energy quite a bit, but for us to come back and make those plays we made in the fifth, it’s hard when a team has all that momentum and you’ve got to come back,” Speraw said. “In the fifth set we did.”
DeFalco led with 18 kills, two blocks and two aces and had six digs. Russell had 15 kills and an ace to go with eight digs and Anderson had 11 kills, a block, two aces and five digs. The effervescent Holt had nine kills, two blocks and two aces and Averill had five kills, three blocks and four aces as he continued to sparkle in his Olympics debut. He had six kills in six swings against Argentina and two blocks.
Libero Erik Shoji had five digs and Christenson had a kill and three digs.
“I think it was a great test of our team’s resiliency and ability to weather a storm,” Anderson said. “Germany has a lot of firepower. They have a lot of guys who can go back and put a lot of pressure on us on the serve and they’re high-ball attacking, they’re physical, strong dudes who are hitting some pretty incredible shots. You can be in the best position in block and defense and still be overpowered. Sometimes there are things you can’t stop and they played very well.”
Germany, which opened with an upset of Japan and finishes pool play Friday against Argentina, got 19 kills from Karlitzek, who had two aces. Grozer had 12 kills, two blocks and two ace, Anton Brehme had 10 kills, four blocks and an ace and Moritz Reichert had 11 kills and an ace.
“It was frustrating because we lost the game, but to come back after two sets we played pretty good volleyball and showed pretty good character,” Brehme said. “We need to look ahead and win against Argentina.”
Italy (2-0) opened with a sweep of Egypt (0-2) in Pool B. Daniele Lavia had 11 kills, a block and two aces in the 25-15-25-16, 25-20 victory. Yuri Romano added 13 kills and an ace and Alessandro Michieletto had seven kills, a block and three aces.
Later, Slovenia played Serbia and France faced Canada in Pool A.
The USA women play Serbia in a likely must-win when they take on Serbia at 5 p.m. Paris time.
The Americans are coming off that brutally tough five-set defeat Monday to China in Pool A. Theirs is the only Pool A match of the day. Read that story here.
Action begins in the morning with Poland vs. Brazil in men’s Pool B, followed by Japan vs. Argentina.
The last match pits Poland vs. Kenya in women’s Pool B.
There are plenty of USA Volleyball fans here.
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield got his program’s supporters out in force Monday before the USA played China. He is here with his wife and two daughters to support not only Team USA, but two of his former players, setter Lauren Carlini and middle Dana Rettke.
Like the other NCAA women’s coaches who came to the Olympics, Sheffield has to leave after the first week, because the season looms large. Wisconsin plays its season opener August 27 at Louisville.
The gathering Monday incuded not only Carlini and Rettke family members, but those of Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer, and a handful of others.
Sheffield then took this photo with former players and one who is joining the program this season, setter Charlie Feurbringer. Her father Matt is a USA men’s assistant coach.
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