World League Competition Underway

The USA men's team began its first major post-Olympic competition with two World League matches in the Netherlands. Eight players return from last year's World League and Beijing gold medal-winning squads.

The look of the starting line up has changed significantly which is not uncommon the year following the Olympics. Four starters from the Olympic team will not be participating in the six-week competition. Setter Lloy Ball and opposite Gabe Gardner retired and middle blocker Ryan Millar and outside hitter Reid Priddy are taking the summer off.

Middle blocker David Lee and libero Rich Lambourne are the only returning starters for this competition. The bench looks different too with new coach Alan Knipe at the helm after taking over for former head coach Hugh McCutcheon.

The team opened the competition with a quick 0-3 loss. But it is a good sign that after studying the tape and making some line up changes, they managed to turn it around two days later, winning in five. Knipe replaced setter Kevin Hansen with Donald Suxho and outside hitter Scott Touzinsky was replaced with Matt Anderson.

World League is a long and brutal tournament with six weeks of competition and travel to all corners of the world, but it will supply some great match experience for the new national team and a good showing may bring them some confidence for the team's future.