USA vs Italy

Italy seized control from the opening exchange, racing to an 8-5 lead in the first set and never looking back. The Azzurri leaned on their block and a disciplined service game to keep USA at arm's length, closing the set 25-18 despite Jordan Ewert's six-point contribution for the Americans.

The Americans responded emphatically in the second set. A blistering 121 km/h ace from Hanes ignited a 6-3 run, and the US side never relented. Micah Ma'a anchored the defence with key blocks, Jeff Jendryk added three stuffs and Hanes chipped in five points as USA stormed to a 25-15 rout — one of the most one-sided sets of the entire VNL weekend.

Italy reasserted their authority in the third. After Hanes and Matt Anderson pulled the score to 14-11 with a kill-ace combination, Italy responded with a 7-1 run to close the set 25-19, pushing the match to a critical fourth set.

The fourth set saw Hanes produce his most devastating spell of the match. After Italy jumped ahead 8-5 on consecutive aces, Hanes answered with three straight points — a kill followed by two aces, the second clocked at 124 km/h — to level the scores at 8-8. Ewert added a block to push the lead to 16-12, and Hanes' fifth ace of the night made it 19-14. Anderson sealed the set 25-18 with a sharp-angled winner off a set from libero Erik Shoji.

The fifth set followed a different script. Italy pounced on early US errors to take a 3-0 lead and never relinquished control. An ace extended the advantage to 6-2, and although Ewert cut the deficit to 6-4, that was as close as the Americans would get. A scrambling collision between Hanes and Ma'a handed Italy a 12-6 lead, and while Hanes scored three consecutive points on match point to make it 14-10, Italy closed the set 15-10 to seal the win.

Jake Hanes was the undeniable standout of the match, posting a game-high 25 points on 18 kills, two blocks and five aces — the latter a match high. His serving velocity consistently exceeded 120 km/h and kept Italy's reception unit under constant pressure.

"It came down to a couple plays, and that's how high-level volleyball is," US captain Matt Anderson said after the match. "They made a couple risky serves that caught lines and they had some really good passes on hard serves from us. A couple plays here and there swayed the match for them."

Anderson finished with 17 points (16 kills, one block), while outside hitter Jordan Ewert contributed 14 points on 11 kills and three blocks. Middle blockers Jeff Jendryk and Taylor Averill added five points apiece, and setter Micah Ma'a chipped in four points along with six digs.

For Italy, 22-year-old outside hitter Luca Porro was outstanding with a team-high 23 points, including three aces and two kill blocks while spiking at an impressive 60% efficiency. Captain Mattia Bottolo, who entered as a second-set substitution, added 14 points, while 19-year-old middle blocker Pardo Mati and opposite Kamil Rychlicki each contributed 10.

Italy held a 57-50 advantage in kills, but USA led in blocks (12-10) and service aces (8-7). Libero Erik Shoji was immaculate in reception, leading all players with nine successful receptions of Italy's powerful serve, while he and Ewert shared the team lead with seven digs each.

US head coach Karch Kiraly, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, gave his team high marks for their week-one performance despite the defeat.

"I give us a lot of nice marks," Kiraly said. "Any team would be happy to come away with three W's even though it is not only about the victories. It's about are we making progress, are we improving, are we learning about some of our people since it's only week one for VNL and I think we accomplished a number of those objectives."

Reflecting on the Italy clash, he added: "It was a struggle the whole night and I credit our guys for fighting through. It was like we were slogging through quicksand the whole time and that is a really good team across the net, and they had three sets where they were just bombing serves and that serving overwhelmed us. I admire the way we kept fighting — losing the first, fight back second, lose the third, fight back in the fourth. We never quit, never gave up, and that's a part of who we are. We're not going away."

USA will head to Orleans, France for Week Two of the VNL, beginning on 24 June against Cuba. Italy also advance to their next pool with momentum, carrying the confidence of a hard-fought victory over a top-four side in the world rankings.

With both teams sitting on 3-1 records after the opening week, the VNL 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions yet.