USA ended their run in the Preliminary Round of the 2021 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy on Wednesday with a straight-set victory against Japan.
USA played a tough match against Japan to beat the Asian powerhouses in closely-contested battle 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 to finished 7th at this year’s VNL with 24 points from 8 wins against 7 losses. Japan finished a distant 11th after claiming 19 points from 7 wins against 8 losses.
Four American players scored double digits in this match comprising Torey Defalco (15), Matthew Anderson (12), Garrett Muagututia (12) and Maxwell Holt (10), while Yuki Ishikawa led Japan with 14 points and Yuji Nishida added 10.
Micah Christenson of the USA said at the virtual Mixed Zone: “It’s more for pride, for us to end the tournament on a high note and to play good volleyball is always good. We stayed focused through the whole game, they put a lot of pressure on us with their serve and we never panicked, we were always confident and able to come back.”
Yuki Ishikawa said: “In each set, from the beginning to the middle we were able to read their game and we were able to keep pace with them. However, in the decisive parts of the sets we were not able to score, we were also not able to keep the momentum and it’s a reason why we lost. We should have won a few of the games which we lost here at the VNL, but it was a valuable experience for younger players ahead of the Olympic Games.”
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