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Matt Anderson eliminated any doubt about the United States finishing atop the pool standings.
Anderson had a team-high 15 kills on .560 attack percentage as the United States defeated Japan 25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19 on Sunday in Paris to finish pool-play undefeated.
The United States entered its pool-play finale having already clinched a quarterfinals berth. The win, though, secures a top-two seed for the United States entering the knockout stage.
Anderson did not commit an attack error in the final three games against Japan and finished the match with one error. The former Penn State All-American also led all players with five kills in the fourth game to help the United States secure the victory.
This performance from the four-time Olympian comes after being held to less than a .275 attack percentage in each of the first two matches to open the tournament.
Former USC setter Micah Christenson guided the U.S. offense to out-hit Japan .510 to .295. The United States opened with a match-best .650 attack percentage in the first game and committed a combined two attack errors through the first two games.
Along with Anderson, former Long Beach State outside attacker TJ DeFalco contributed 13 kills on a .333 attack percentage. Former Penn State outside attacker Aaron Russell added 10 kills and hit .389, while former Hawai’i middle attacker Taylor Averill had seven kills on a match-best .875 attack percentage.
Averill also led all players with six blocks, including three blocks in the team’s seven-point second-game win.
Pin-hitter Yuji Nishida in the loss finished with a match-high 17 kills. Nishida, though, was the only Japanese player to have double-digit kills against the United States.
Despite suffering its second pool-play loss, Japan was able to clinch a quarterfinals berth because of its victory in the third game.
Japan will be the No. 8 seed for the quarterfinals and could potentially face the United States again in the quarterfinals.
The United States has secured at least the No. 2 seed and can clinch the No. 1 seed depending on the match result between Poland and Italy on Saturday.