USA men rally but fall to Iran in five in Volleyball Nations League

TJ DeFalco went off, but the USA men, playing in their first match of the third round of Volleyball Nations League, lost in five sets to previously winless Iran on Wednesday in Manilla, Philippines.

DeFalco had 30 kills while hitting .468, to go with two blocks, an ace and six digs, but the Iranians came away with a 26-28, 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 15-13 victory. It left the Americans 3-6, in 12th place and facing an uphill battle to get into the top eight that make the VNL finals.

They get another chance to make up some ground when they play Brazil (6-3) on Thursday.

DeFalco had eight errors in 47 attacks. Matt Anderson added 10 kills, seven digs and three aces. Jordan Ewert had eight kills, a block and an ace and Jeff Jendryk had seven kill and two blocks. The USA had five aces, 23 serving errors and hit .320. Erik Shoji had 13 digs.

Iran (1-8) got 22 kills and an ace from Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh. Milad Ebadipour had 16 kills, three blocks and an ace and Amin Esmaeilnezhad had 10 kills, three blocks and an ace.

Iran had five aces, 25 errors and hit .370.

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