The American victory was facilitated by a spectacular performance from Christenson, who did a great job running the team’s offense against Canada and was awarded as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Libero Erik Shoji was selected as the best in his position.
“Canada came out strong, but we battled against it and came out on top,” Shoji reacted. “We knew they would come out with strong serves. That was probably the game plan… We just had to adjust a little bit and adjust our setting, adjust everything. But the main thing was serve and pass and I think we did a great job.”
Opposite Matt Anderson was one of three American players to reach double digits in scoring in the final. The opposite tallied 16 points (12 kills, two aces, two blocks), while outside hitters Thomas Jaeschke and Aaron Russell had 12 (all in kills) and 11 (nine kills, one ace, one block), respectively.
“We have ten practices left before the Olympic Qualifier and the big thing for us is figuring out the best way to use each of them,” head coach John Speraw commented about the upcoming tournament. “It’s really about allowing the guys to tighten up a couple of things and going into the event feeling good. It’s going to be a really challenging tournament, but we feel good in terms of our depth and confidence.”
