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Coach John Speraw said before the match that winless Tunisia was more than capable of winning a set or match at the Olympics.
The future Hall of Famer wasn’t just giving false platitudes.
The United States recovered from dropping the second set and defeated Tunisia 25-14, 23-25, 25-14, 25-23 in the Olympics preliminary round on Wednesday in Tokyo.
The second-set win for Tunisia ended a 17-set losing streak in Olympics play dating back to 2012. Tunisia is 0-32 all-time in the preliminary round during its seven Olympic appearances.
Outside attacker TJ DeFalco finished with a match-high 21 kills on a .444 attack percentage in the victory. This is the most kills in a single-match for a U.S. player through the tournament’s first three matches, and the first time the former Long Beach State All-American had double-digit kills at his first Olympics.
DeFalco was one of three U.S. players with double-digit kills against Tunisia (0-3, 0 points Pool B). Former BYU All-American outside attacker Taylor Sander had 14 kills on a .600 attack percentage, while former Penn State All-American middle attacker Max Holt had 13 kills and hit .556.
Setter Micah Christenson guided the United States (2-1, 6 points Pool B) to a .464 attack percentage — the second time in three Olympic matches it has hit more than .400.
Tunisia hit .227 in the loss and had one player with double-digit kills. Opposite Wassim Ben Tara led Tunisia with 13 kills but was held to a .147 attack percentage.
The United States had five players with aces as it finished with six aces — five more aces than Tunisia.
Tunisia was within one point of the United States in the fourth game but a Mitch Stahl kill and a Matt Anderson block extended the U.S. lead to 14-11. The United States would have a multiple-point lead until Tunisia fought off its third match-point to cut the deficit to 24-23.
The United States on its fourth match-point had a kill attempt returned by Tunisia before Holt delivered the match-winning kill.
DeFalco in the third-game victory finished with a game-high six kills. The former UCLA middle attacker Stahl coming off the bench for the start of the third game also had three kills and an ace in the game.
Anderson on the first point of the second game had an ace to jumpstart a 6-1 run. Tunisia rallied to take a 19-18 lead, and then after the teams traded multiple sideouts Tunisia blocked an Anderson kill attempt to take a 23-21 lead.
Sander had back-to-back kills to erase the two-point deficit, but a U.S. service error and then a Tunisia kill secured the game for the African champions.
The United States started the match on a 7-1 run and ended the opening-game victory hitting .429. In addition, DeFalco led all players with five kills in the 11-point win.
The United States remains in at least third place in the Pool B standings and can potentially move into second place depending on the match result between first-place Russia and second-place Brazil on Wednesday night.
With two remaining preliminary round matches, the United States will play the defending gold medalists Brazil on Friday.
The top-four teams in both of the six-team men’s volleyball pools will advance to the Olympics quarterfinals. If the United States beats Brazil, it will clinch a quarterfinals berth.