USA survive furious comeback attempt by Germany

USA achieved their second victory in the men’s Olympic volleyball tournament and made an important step towards the quarterfinals. On Tuesday afternoon at the South Paris Arena, the Americans managed to beat Germany in five sets.

USA failed to convert their two-set lead to a three-point win and had to survive a tie-breaker resolution before celebrating a 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 15-11) win and heading the current Pool C standings on a 2-0 win-loss record and 5 points, followed by Germany in second place on 1-1 and 3.

USA took the early lead and, with Matthew Anderson spearheading the offence, they stayed well in control throughout the first set. In the money time, Germany were able to get back to within two, but the Americans closed the set at 25-21 with an ace by outside hitter Aaron Russell. Their domination on the court was even more expressed during the second set. Outside Torey Defalco crowned his great performance in attack during the set with a monster block for the 25-17 set winner.

Germany struck back in the third set. Stepping up their spiking effort and capitalizing on the abundant opponent errors, the Europeans opened up an early five-point lead at 7-2, and, although the Americans got back to within one at 13-12, Germany never lost control of the scoreboard. Outside Moritz Karlitzek led the way in attack and himself finished the set off with a spike kill for 25-17. USA stayed competitive only through 11-10 in the fourth set. Germany broke away with four in a row and never looked back. With Karlitzek and opposite Gyorgy Grozer on fire, they kept pace to close the set at 25-20 on a hit by Moritz Reichert and leveled the match.

After 5-4 Germany’s way in the tie-breaker, USA went on a six-point run, with middle blocker Maxwell Holt behind the serving ace and delivering two consecutive aces in the process, and practically pre-decided the match. Germany attempted a comeback, but it was too late. An ace by Defalco brought in match point at 14-9. Three rallies down the road, a service error by the Europeans ended the game at 15-11.

It was the serving that made the difference in the match. USA produced 11 aces against 6 for the Germans and that tilted the balance their way, especially in the tie-breaker. Five American players reached the double digits in the game: Defalco with 18 points, Russell with 16, Anderson with 14, Holt with 13, and middle blocker Taylor Averill with 12 (including four aces).

“We really took care of business early, with really good service pressure and playing good block-defence in the first two sets,” Russell told the FIVB. “In the third and fourth sets, they really stepped it up. Maybe we kind of let off the gas from the service line, but then Max really turned it on and he was the one that kind of got the fire going in the fifth set. I am really happy about the way we responded to that adversity.”

Germany’s Karlitzek delivered a match-high 21 points, backed by Grozer with 16, middle blocker Anton Brehme with 15 and Reichert with 12.

“It was really important for the moral, for the ranking and for the points in our group that we managed to come back,” German setter and captain Lukas Kampa commented. “In the first two sets, USA showed some of the best volleyball in sideout that I’ve seen in a while, so we needed a big effort from our side to get into their heads, to destroy this really fluent game that they were playing. I am happy that we managed to do it, showing that we have so many players coming from the bench, giving some extra for the team. Of course, I am not happy, but I am really proud of the way we came back and the way we fought.”

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