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There will be plenty of star power on the court as the FIVB Volleyball Nations League descends upon Chicago.
The United States in its only home matches during the tournament’s preliminary round will play Canada, Japan and China this weekend at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Check out the 10 players to know from these four teams competing in this Volleyball Nations League grouping.
Matt Anderson, United States
Anderson is making his return to the Volleyball Nations League after being named the Best Opposite at the 2018 Volleyball Nations League Finals. The former Penn State All-American and two-time Olympian concluded the season with his professional team in Russia last month. With the United States having a guaranteed spot in the finals, Anderson has not been on the U.S. active roster for the first three weeks of the preliminary round.
Micah Christenson, United States
Christenson in the 2018 Volleyball National League preliminary round finished fourth among all players with 694 excellent sets and helped guide the United States to a bronze-medal finish. The former USC All-American and 2016 Olympian through the first three weeks of the 2019 preliminary round has split the starting setter responsibilities with former UCLA setter Micah Ma’a and former Long Beach State setter Josh Tuaniga.
Nicholas Hoag, Canada
Hoag has the second-most kills for Canada in each of the team’s last three matches and had 16 kills in Canada’s most recent win — a five-game home victory against Canada on June 8.In addition, Hoag in the preliminary round of the 2016 Olympics had 11 kills and a match-high two aces as Canada upset the United States in three games.
Yuki Ishikawa, Japan
Ishikawa is second on Japan and in the tournament’s top 10 with 101 kills. The outside attacker has double-digit kills in three of the team’s last five matches, including a match-high 14 kills in a three-game loss to first-place Iran earlier this month.
Thomas Jaeschke, United States
It took a full year to recover from his torn ACL, but Jaeschke is back on the court and in the same city where he suffered his injury. The former Loyola All-American outside attacker is slated to make his season debut as the United States enters this weekend on a four-match winning streak.
Chuan Jiang, China
Jiang leads China with 80 kills and is in the tournament’s top 40 with a 42.11 percentage offensive efficiency. He also led China offensively in the last two matches and in his most recent performance had 15 kills in a loss to Serbia on Sunday.
Yuji Nishida, Japan
Nishda is one of seven players in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League to have at least 100 kills and is in the tournament’s top 15 with a 50 percent offensive efficiency. He also is fourth in the tournament with a 0.37 aces per game average, including having a match-high seven aces in a five-game victory against Bulgaria on Saturday.
Taylor Sander, United States
Sander finished with a team-high 15 kills and added three blocks as the United States defeated France in four games on Sunday. The former BYU All-American outside attacker has double-digit kills in all four matches that he has started during this tournament.
Erik Shoji, United States
Shoji leads the United States and is in the tournament’s top 25 with a 1.11 digs per game average. In addition, the Stanford four-time All-American libero finished the Volleyball Nations League preliminary round last year in the tournament’s top 10 with a 15.92 percent service reception efficiency.
Sharone Vernon-Evans, Canada
Vernon-Evans has a tournament-best 158 points and is in the tournament’s top five with both 129 kills and a 53.09 percent offensive efficiency. He also has at least 15 kills in three of the last five matches, which was highlighted by a tournament-high 28 kills in a four-game loss to Poland on Sunday.