Four Bruins Named to U.S. VNL Roster

Four UCLA Bruins – Merrick McHenry (UCLA 2020-present), Ethan Champlin (UCLA 2021-present), Garrett Muagututia (UCLA 2007-10) and Micah Ma'a (UCLA 2016-19) -- were included on the 30-player U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team roster for the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2023 competition in an announcement made over the weekend by USA Volleyball.
 
The U.S. Men are coached by Bruin men's volleyball head coach John Speraw as his squad takes the initial steps to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 in this year's VNL competition. Speraw, who led the UCLA men's volleyball team to the 2023 NCAA National Championship, has been the U.S. Men's head coach since 2013 and helped them to the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. His assistants are former indoor and beach player Matt Fuerbringer, who has coached college and club teams, and Javier Weber, a three-time Olympian for Argentina who also coached Argentina's national team and continues to coach for professional club teams. His second assistant coaches include Bruin Erik Sullivan (1992-95) and Mike Wall.
 
Volleyball Nations League is the world's premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams at the end of the preliminaries will go to the Final Round. The U.S. will open the VNL Preliminary Round on June 7 in Ottawa, Canada, before moving on to Rotterdam, Netherlands on June 20 and then return to the U.S., in Anaheim, Calif., for action beginning on July 5. Fourteen players will be selected from the 30-man list (see below) to participate on each site's travel roster. The U.S. Men are ranked sixth in the world and won the silver medal at the 2022 VNL.

This full USA Volleyball release is posted online with athlete bios at https://go.usav.org/51223MNT
 
 McHenry, a current member of the UCLA men's volleyball team, is a 6-7 middle blocker from Bedford, Texas (L.D. Bell HS). He was a 2023 and 2022 first-team AVCA All-America and a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) selection as well as a 2022 finalist for the Ryan Millar Award as the nation's top middle attacker. McHenry led the NCAA in hitting percentage, at .526, this past collegiate season after hitting at least .500 in 20 matches. He also finished ninth in the NCAA in blocks per set (1.05) average. He owns the second (.526 in 2023) and third-best (.523 in 2022) attack percentage marks all-time by a Bruin player in a season with at least 300 attacks for the rally scoring era (2001-present). In 2021, McHenry rated 12th in the nation in hitting percentage (.423) and 18th in blocks per set (1.02) while earning honorable mention AVCA All-America honors. He represented the U.S. in last year's NORCECA Continental Championships and the Pan Am Cup.
 
Champlin, also a current member of the UCLA men's volleyball team, is a 6-3 outside hitter from Oceanside, Calif. (Classical Academy HS). He was a 2023 and 2022 first-team AVCA All-American and a first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selection. He ranked 21st in the nation with a .349 attack percentage and 31st in the NCAA in aces per set average (0.36) this past season. Champlin totaled 14 double-digit kill matches while hitting at least .400 in 14 contests. He added 13 matches with multiple service aces with a best of five against Purdue Fort Wayne. Champlin was credited with at least five digs in 14 matches and recorded multiple blocks in 15 contests. He has previous experience playing for the U.S. in the last two Pan Am Cup competitions.

A 6-5 outside hitter from Oceanside, Calif. (Francis Parker HS), Muagututia made his debut with the U.S. Men's National Team in 2011 at the Pan American Cup. He has played professionally in Spain, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Poland, China, Portugal and Greece. In 2019, Muagututia was a member of the U.S. team which captured the bronze medal at the FIVB World Cup, brought home the silver medal at the FIVB Nation's League and helped the U.S. earn a trip to Tokyo at the FIVB Men's Volleyball Qualification Tournament. He was selected to the 12-man team that competed for the U.S. at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
 
At UCLA, Muagututia earned second-team All-America honors in multiple seasons (2010, 2008). He led the Bruins in kills as a senior (446) and finished his career with 71 double-digit kill matches, 19 double-doubles and 99 aces. Muagututia ended his Bruin playing days as the rally scoring era school leader in block solos (44) for a career and in second-place on the all-time kills list (1,473).
 
Ma'a (Punahou School) is a 6-3 setter / outside hitter from Kaneohe, Hawai'i who played at UCLA from 2016-19 and has been a member of the U.S. Men's National Team since 2018. He has played professionally in France since 2019. Ma'a was a 2018 and 2019 first-team All-AVCA All-America and first-team All-MPSF selection while setting the Bruins to two of the highest attack percentages in the country each season. He established a school record for most aces in a season with 67 in 2019 when he ranked third nationally with a 0.64 aces per set average and finished up his UCLA career with a school-record total of 208 aces.

U.S. Men's National Team 30-Athlete Roster for 2023 Volleyball Nations League
 No. Player (Position, Height, Hometown, College, USAV Region)
1 Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-10, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State, Western Empire)
2 Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State, Chesapeake)
3 James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif. Stanford, Northern California)
4 Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
5 Kyle Ensing (Opp, 6-7, Valencia, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
6 Quinn Isaacson (S, 6-2, Plainfield, Ill., Ball State Univ., Great Lakes)
7 Jacob Pasteur (OH, 6-4, Westminster, Md., Ohio State Univ., Chesapeake)
8 T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
9 Jake Hanes (OPP, 6-10, Orland Park, Ill., Ohio State Univ., Great Lakes)
10 Kyle Dagostino (L, 5-9, Tampa, Florida, Stanford Univ., Florida)
11 Micah Christenson (S, 6-5, Honolulu, Hawaii, Univ. of Southern California, Hawaii)
12 Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State, Ohio Valley)
13 Patrick Gasman (MB, 6-10, Clovis, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
14 Micah Ma'a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA, Aloha)
15 Kyle Russell (Opp, 6-9, Loomis, Calif., UC Irvine, Northern California)
16 Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
17 Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola Univ. Chicago, Great Lakes)
18 Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
19 Taylor Averill (MB, 6-7, San Jose, Calif., Univ. of Hawaii, Northern California)
20 David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., Univ. of California Irvine, Southern California)
21 Mason Briggs (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State Univ., Southern California)
22 Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford Univ., Hawaii)
23 Cody Kessel (OH, 6-5, Colorado Springs, Colo., Princeton Univ., Rocky Mountain)
24 Brett Wildman (OH, 6-5, Virginia Beach, Va., Penn State Univ., Old Dominion)
25 Ethan Champlin (OH, 6-3, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA, Southern California)
26 Merrick McHenry (MB, 6-7, Bedford, Texas, UCLA, North Texas)
27 Tyler Mitchem (MB, 6-11, Bolingbrook, Ill., Lewis Univ., Great Lakes)
28 Francesco Sani  (Opp, 6-8, Bethesda, Md., UC Irvine, Chesapeake)
29 Jordan Ewert (OH, 6-5, Antioch, Calif., Stanford, Northern California)
30 Kyle McCauley (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., UC San Diego, Southern California)
 
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coaches: Matt Fuerbringer, Javier Weber
Second Assistant Coaches: Erik Sullivan, Mike Wall
 
U.S. Men's Schedule for the 2023 VNL
All matches will be broadcast on volleyballworld.tv
 (All times PT)
Week 1 in Ottawa, Canada
June 7 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Netherlands
June 8 at 1:30 p.m. USA vs Italy
June 10 at 5 p.m. USA vs Canada
June 11 at 11:30 a.m. USA vs Brazil
 
Week 2 in Rotterdam, Netherlands
June 20 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs Serbia
June 21 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs China
June 23 at 7:30 a.m. USA vs Iran
June 24 at 4 a.m. USA vs Poland
 
Week 3 in Anaheim, California, USA
July 5 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Cuba
July 7 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Argentina
July 8 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs France
July 9 at 6:30 p.m. USA vs Bulgaria