USA men 4-5 in VNL after losing to Iran, Serbia, beating Germany

The USA men had another tough stretch at the Volleyball Nations League tournament in Rimini, Italy.

The Americans dropped to 4-5 after losing to Serbia on Friday. Wednesday they were swept by Iran 25-19, 25-23, 25-23; Thursday swept Germany 25-12, 25-18, 29-27; and then lost to Serbia 25-23, 25-17, 19-25, 27-25 despite 20 kills by TJ DeFalco.

The team is playing matches in batches of three and after three days off the USA plays Italy on Tuesday, France on Wednesday, and the Netherlands on Thursday.

The USA was without setter Micah Christenson, who left to be home for the arrival of Quinn Makoa Christenson, who was born this past Monday.

Ben Patch led with 14 kills and hit .423, and Garrett Muagututia had 11 kills and hit .473 to go with nine digs. Jeff Jendryk had three blocks, and Kawika Shoji set and had 20 assists.

Click here for USA-Iran highlights.

Brenden Sander and Muagututia, who had no errors in 15 attacks, had nine kills each in the win over Germany. Shoji, setting again, had team-highs of four blocks and seven digs to go with 20 assists.

Click here for USA-Germany highlights.

Against Serbia, DeFalco had one error in 30 attacks and hit .633. Patch had 10 kills and Matt Anderson seven, three digs, and two blocks. David Smith had four aces, and setter Josh Tuaniga had 25 assists and four digs,

Uros Kovacevic led Serbia with 20 kills and hit .454.

Click here for USA-Serbia highlights.