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NCAA Division I-II mens’ volleyball will be well represented at the 2021 Olympics — and not just on the U.S. Men’s National Team roster.
Check out all the Olympians, coaches and staff members who have ties to college men’s volleyball that will partake in the upcoming Olympic volleyball tournaments.
Matt Anderson
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Opposite
School: Penn State
College recap: Anderson in his junior season averaged 5.79 kills per game as he earned the 2008 AVCA Co-National Player of the Year and guided Penn State to a national championship. In his three seasons with the Nittany Lions, Anderson helped Penn State twice reach the NCAA Tournament finals and was a All-EIVA selection each year. He also still holds a Penn State single-season rally-scoring era record with 567 kills in his final college season. Anderson after winning the national championship in 2008 opted to forego his senior season to begin his professional career.
Michelle Bartsch-Hackley
Team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: UC Irvine
College men’s volleyball connection: Bartsch-Hackley following an All-American college career at Illinois served as a volunteer assistant coach with UC Irvine in 2013 and helped the Anteaters win the NCAA championship.
Tri Bourne
Team: U.S. Beach Volleyball Team
Position: Beach volleyball player
School: USC
College recap: Bourne during his senior season was among the national leaders with a 2.78 kills on a career-best .326 attack percentage as USC earned the No. 1 overall seed to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. In the 2009 MPSF Tournament finals, Bourne had 10 kills and 10 blocks to help USC upset Pepperdine and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991.
Justin Chang
Team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Position: Second scout
School: USC
College men’s volleyball connection: Chang spent three seasons as the technical coordinator for USC and helped the Trojans earn an at-large berth to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Micah Christenson
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Setter
School: USC
College recap: Christenson finished his college career as a three-time All-American selection and the recipient of the Lloy Ball Award as the nation’s top setter in both 2014 and 2015. Along with being the National Newcomer of the Year, Christenson that season as a freshman helped lead the Trojans to the 2012 NCAA finals — the program’s last NCAA Tournament appearance. He also served as a co-captain for the Trojans for his final three seasons.
TJ DeFalco
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: Long Beach State
College recap: DeFalco became the second individual during the rally scoring era to win the AVCA National Player of the Year multiple times. The three-time recipient of the Karch Kiraly Award as the nation’s top outside attacker led Long Beach State to back-to-back NCAA championships. DeFalco set the school record with 183 career aces, including having three aces in his final college match to help Long Beach State win the 2019 national championship. In addition, the four-time All-American was fifth in program history with 1,661 career kills and had more than a .300 attack percentage in all four seasons.
Marv Dunphy
Team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Position: Consultant coach
School: Pepperdine
College men’s volleyball connection: Dunphy spent 34 seasons as the Pepperdine head coach and is one of winningest coaches in college men’s volleyball history with a 612-277 career record. The Hall of Famer and three-time MPSF Coach of the Year guided the Waves to NCAA championships in four decades — 1978, 1985, 1992 and 2005. Pepperdine players under Dunphy have earned National Player of the Year honors nine times and 22 Waves have been First-Team All-American selections. Dunphy was a middle attacker for Pepperdine and three years after graduating was named the team’s new head coach in 1977. In addition, Dunphy remains head coach emeritus at Pepperdine and briefly returned to the sidelines as an assistant coach late in the 2019 season to help the Waves reach the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Kyle Ensing
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Opposite
School: Long Beach State
College recap: The three-time All-American concluded his time at Long Beach State in the program’s top 10 with both 1,421 career kills and 140 career aces. Ensing had more than both a 3.50 kills per game average and a .350 attack percentage in each of his final two seasons as he helped Long Beach State win two national championships. The 2018 Bryan Ivie Award recipient as the nation’s top opposite also ended his junior season with back-to-back 20 kills performances in the NCAA Tournament semifinals and finals.
B.J. Evans
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Press Officer
College recap: Evans has covered multiple NCAA Tournaments for USA Volleyball.
Matt Fuerbringer
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Assistant coach
School: Stanford
College recap: Fuerbringer was a four-time All-American who helped lead Stanford to the 1997 NCAA championship. In addition, Fuerbringer in the finals had the match-winning block to secure the national championship for the Cardinal. Along with his college career, Fuerbringer served as a UCLA volunteer assistant coach for coach John Speraw before joining the U.S. Men’s National Team coaching staff.
Tyler Hildebrand
Team: U.S. Beach Volleyball Team
Position: Coach
School: Long Beach State
College recap: Hildebrand was a Long Beach State associate head coach and helped guide the team in 2016 to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in eight years. Before coaching at his alma mater, Hildebrand was a four-year starting setter for Long Beach State from 2003-06. The setter ended his college career as a three-time All-American and was named the 2003 AVCA National Newcomer of the Year. Hildebrand in between his time setting and coaching at Long Beach State played professional beach volleyball on the AVP Tour and was a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Max Holt
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Middle attacker
School: Penn State
College recap: Holt was a two-time All-American and helped Penn State win the NCAA championship in 2008. The middle attacker’s 207 career aces is the third most for any NCAA player during the rally scoring era. He also set the Penn State single-season record with 79 aces in his senior season. Along with these individual accomplishments, Holt contributed to Penn State winning the EIVA and reaching the NCAA Tournament in each of his four seasons.
Thomas Jaeschke
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: Loyola
College recap: Jaeschke in three seasons with Loyola guided the program to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back national championships in 2014 and 2015. Along with being a two-time MIVA Player of the Year, Jaeschke as a junior became the first MIVA player to win the AVCA National Player of the Year. Jaeschke, the 2015 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year, also helped Loyola become the first non-West Coast team to repeat as national champions as it beat in-state rival Lewis in a fifth-game overtime of the 2015 NCAA finals. Following that victory in the MIVAgeddon — the nickname for the NCAA finals that featured two MIVA teams — Jaeschke opted to forego his senior season and play professional volleyball.
Karch Kiraly
Team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Position: Head coach
School: UCLA
College men’s volleyball connection: Kiraly as a four-time All-American led the Bruins to a 126-5 record during his college career and won NCAA championships in 1979, 1981 and 1982. He also was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player as a junior and senior to become the first player in NCAA men’s volleyball history to earn that award in back-to-back years. The annual award presented to the top outside attacker in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball is named the Karch Kiraly Award
Rich Lambourne
Team: U.S. Beach Volleyball Team
Position: Coach
School: BYU
College recap: Lambourne in his final college season had a team-high 2.52 digs per game average and helped BYU win the 1999 NCAA championship. He also had a 3.07 kills per game average on a career-best .315 attack percentage that year — the second time in three seasons he averaged more than 3.00 kills per game and hit more than .300.
Jordan Larson
Team:U.S. Women’s National Team
Position:Outside attacker
School:Pepperdine
College men’s volleyball connection: The former Nebraska All-American and two-time Olympic medalist is engaged to Pepperdine head coach David Hunt.
Jeff Liu
Team:U.S. Women’s National Team
Position:Performance analyst
School:USC
College men’s volleyball connection: Liu was the technical coordinator for USC from 2015-17.
Garrett Muagututia
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: UCLA
College recap: Muagututia remains fifth in UCLA program history with 1,473 career kills and in the program’s top 10 with 99 career aces. The two-time All-American still holds the single-season school record with 473 kills in 2008, including having 16 kills on a .303 attack percentage in an upset victory against then-No. 1 BYU. In addition, Muagututia twice finished with the school’s best single-season kills per game average performance during the rally scoring era with a 4.04 average in 2008 and a 3.90 average as a senior in 2010.
Nate Ngo
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Technical coordinator
School: UCLA
College men’s volleyball connection: Ngo was a volunteer assistant coach under John Speraw for UCLA for the abbreviated 2020 season.
Taylor Sander
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: BYU
College recap: Sander was a four-time All-American and guided BYU to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances — the program’s first time to reach the NCAA Tournament in almost a decade. In addition, Sander as a junior and senior earned back-to-back MPSF Player of the Year and National Player of the Year honors. Along with leading the Cougars to MPSF championships in 2013 and 2014, Sander set the rally-scoring era program record with both 1,743 career kills and 182 aces.
Erik Shoji
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Libero
School: Stanford
College recap: Shoji became the first four-time First-Team AVCA All-American in college men’s volleyball history. Along with helping Stanford win the 2010 NCAA championship, Shoji holds the NCAA rally-scoring era records for single-season digs with 447 in his freshman season and career digs with 1,402. The annual college men’s volleyball award presented to the nation’s best libero is named the Erik Shoji Award in honor of the Stanford All-American.
Kawika Shoji
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Setter
School: Stanford
College recap: Shoji guided Stanford to the 2010 NCAA championship — the program’s first national title in almost 20 years. The setter during that senior season also was named the AVCA National Player of the Year and the Co-Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Tournament. In addition, Shoji was a two-time All-American and second in Stanford’s program history during the rally-scoring era with both 4,504 career assists and 836 career digs.
Luka Slabe
Team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Position: Assistant coach
School: BYU
College men’s volleyball connection: Slabe was an assistant coach with BYU for three seasons and helped guide the Cougars to back-to-back NCAA Tournament finals in 2016 and 2017 along with an NCAA Tournament semifinals appearance in 2018. As an outside attacker for BYU, Slabe 397 career kills and in his sophomore season helped the team win the 2001 NCAA championship.
David Smith
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Middle attacker
School: UC Irvine
College recap: Smith earned First-Team All-American honors in his senior season as UC Irvine in 2007 under coach John Speraw won its first NCAA championship in program history. In addition, Smith in his final college season had a nation-best .559 attack percentage and had more than 300 kills. The middle attacker also earned all-conference honorable mention honors as a junior and all-conference honors as a senior.
Brian Thorton
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Assistant coach
School: UC Irvine
College recap: Thornton playing under Speraw at UC Irvine set the program record with 4,662 career assists and helped the Anteaters win the 2007 NCAA championship. In addition, the setter was a two-time All-American selection.
John Speraw
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Head coach
Schools: UCLA and UC Irvine
College recap: While serving as head coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team, Speraw is simultaneously being the head coach for UCLA. In eight seasons at UCLA, Speraw has guided the Bruins to two NCAA Tournament appearances. Speraw won three NCAA championships as the head coach of UC Irvine before returning to his alma mater in 2012 to replace retired Hall of Fame coach Al Scates. Speraw as a middle attacker played four seasons for Scates in the 1990s and helped UCLA win two NCAA championships. He also was named to the 1995 NCAA All-Tournament Team.
Mitch Stahl
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Middle attacker
School: UCLA
College recap: Stahl during his junior season finished sixth in the nation with a 1.19 blocks per game average and had a career-best .471 attack percentage as he helped lead UCLA to the 2016 NCAA Tournament semifinals. The All-American the following year was in the nation’s top 10 averaging both 1.08 blocks per game and a 0.55 aces per game. In addition, Stahl remains third in UCLA program history during the rally scoring era with both 129 career aces and 345 career blocks.
Erik Sullivan
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Team Manager
Schools: UCLA and Texas
College recap: Sullivan as a UCLA teammate of Speraw was a two-time All-American and helped the Bruins win two national championships. He finished his college career having a school-record 25 career matches with double-digit digs and was second in the UCLA record books with 747 career digs. Sullivan after college spent eight years on the U.S Men’s National Team and competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
Kevin Tillie
Team: French Men’s National Team
Position: Outside attacker
School: UC Irvine
College recap: Tillie transferring to UC Irvine as a junior after two seasons at a Canadian college was a two-time All-American and won the 2012 AVCA Newcomer of the Year under Speraw. He helped lead the Anteaters to back-to-back national championships while averaging more than 3.75 kills per game in both seasons. Tillie in his senior season earned NCAA All-Tournament Team honors as UC Irvine upset BYU in the 2013 finals to become the first team in almost 20 years to repeat as NCAA champions.
Mike Wall
Team: U.S. Men’s National Team
Position: Assistant coach
School: BYU
College recap: Wall led BYU to the 2001 NCAA championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament after the team upset UCLA in the finals. The two-time All-American opposite remains the BYU rally-scoring era record holder with a career 4.86 kills per game average. Wall during his senior season in 2002 set the school’s single-season rally-scoring era record with 534 kills and a 4.90 kills per game average. Along with this playing career, Wall was an assistant coach for the Arizona State women’s volleyball team before joining the U.S. Men’s National Team coaching staff.