Last year’s Semi-Finalists Slovenia kickstart their Volleyball Nations League campaign against the USA

As the best Nations in the world of Men’s Volleyball gear up for another year of the prestigious Nations League, Brazil will host the Week One action in Pool A, including the encounter that was taken the full five-set distance in Week Five of the 2021 campaign.

Both Slovenia and the USA are ranked inside the top ten volleyball nations in the world, with the former at 8th and the latter at 7th in the latest FIVB ratings respectively. As such, it is no surprise that this game was a nip and tuck thriller in their last meeting, with Slovenia ultimately coming out on top after a deciding set and progressing to the semi-finals. 

Whilst the Slovenians were comprehensively beaten by both Poland and France in the eventual semi-final and 3rd place play-off, such a run was met with high praise as it was the nation’s debut in the competition, created in 2018. 

This momentum was carried into the subsequent European Championship held in the Autumn of 2021, as Slovenia would go on to reach the final, only to relinquish a two set to one lead and eventually succumb to Italy. 

Now under the stewardship of Australian-Polish head coach Mark Lebedew, the Slovenians will be looking to go better than they did in 2021, whilst also building towards this year’s World Championship. 

Meanwhile, the USA have endured a downturn in fortunes in recent years, going from Bronze at the 2016 Olympics to Bronze at the Pan-American Cup in 2021 and failing to escape the Preliminaries at the Tokyo Olympics. As such, pressure may be on long-time coach John Speraw to not only have a successful Nations League campaign but build towards a tough World Championship group that includes the Pan-American Champions Mexico as well as the European Semi-Finalists and last year’s Nations League runners up Poland.

Rosters:

Slovenia – 

There are four new faces that have been drafted into the squad from 2021’s tournament, with Uroš Planinšič, Alan Košenina, Crtomir Bošnjak and Danijel Koncilja all coming in. 

1 – Tonček Stern 

2 – Alen Pajenk 

3 – Uroš Planinšič 

4 – Jan Kozamernik 

5 – Alen Šket 

6 – Mitja Gasparini 

7 – Alan Košenina 

8 – Crtomir Bošnjak 

9 – Dejan Vincic 

10 – Sašo Štalekar 

11 – Danijel Koncilja 

12 – Jan Klobucar 

13 – Jani Kovačič 

14 – Ziga Štern 

15 – Matic Videčnik 

16 – Gregor Ropret 

17 – Tine Urnaut 

18 – Klemen Cebulj 

19 – Rok Možič 

20 – Nik Mujanovič 

21 – Gregor Pernuš 

22 – Janž Janez Kržić 

23 – Jure Okroglic 

Head Coach – Mark Lebedew 

USA – 

The Americans name four Olympians in their final Nations League squad in the form of David Smith, Aaron Russell, Thomas Jaeschke, and Kyle Ensing. As well as this, Speraw named six Nations League debutants. 

2 – Aaron Russell 

3 – James Shaw 

4 – Jeff Jendryk 

5 – Kyle Ensing 

7 – Jacob Pasteur 

9 – Jake Hanes 

10 – Kyle Dagostino 

13 – Patrick Gasman 

16 – Josh Tuaniga 

17 – Thomas Jaeschke 

20 – David Smith 

21 – Mason Briggs 

23 – Cody Kessel 

27 – Tyler Mitcham 

Head Coach – John Speraw 

Slovenia will be hoping to avoid a repeat of their opening Nations League clash in 2021 in which they lost 3-1 to Serbia whereas the USA will still be searching for the form that earned them Olympic Bronze in 2016 and build towards a successful campaign. 

When Lebedew’s side win, they tend to win well, as last year’s European Championship campaign would suggest. Aside from the three losses they suffered in that competition, Slovenia only dropped two sets in their six wins combined, suggesting that if the European side were to get ahead, they may prove difficult to overturn. However, one would have to assume that the Olympic experience in the US squad may count for something, despite a poor run of results. 

With a game against World No.1’s and Pool A Week One hosts Brazil to follow, Lebedew and his Slovenian side will be well aware of the importance of getting off to a winning start against the US, whereas the Americans will not face Brazil into the fourth and final Week One encounter. 

The game will begin at approximately 9:00 pm local time (Brasìlia Time) on 7th June 2022, or 1:00 am UK time on the 8th June. 

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