PARIS – The United State Men’s Volleyball team, behind quality play from three Penn State alumni, moved to 2-0 at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with a 3-2 win over Germany on Tuesday morning.
Aaron Russell ’15 led the Penn State trio with 15 kills and one block. Matt Anderson ’08 tallied 11 kills, one block and two assists, while Max Holt ’09 finished with nine kills, two blocks and two aces.
USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a 25-21 win in the first set and a 25-17 victory in the second set before dropping sets three and four by 25-17 and 25-20 scores. They regrouped to avoid a Germany comeback with a 15-11 win in the fifth set.
Holt had a great serving run in the deciding set, helping USA take a 10-5 lead with a 6-0 run. His first two serves during that stretch resulted in aces.
At 2-0 with a sweep of Argentina and Tuesday’s win over Germany, USA leads Pool C with five points. They wrap up pool play with a match against Japan on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. The top two teams from each pool and the two best third-place teams advance to the quarterfinal round in bracket play.