Anderson named Player of the Year by USAV

Anderson named Player of the Year by USAV

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, January 11, 2019 – Matthew Anderson was recognized as USA’s Male Indoor Volleyball Player of the Year. This is the fifth time in his career the 31-year-old spiker is honoured by USA Volleyball with this title, after 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

As a US national team member, the two-time Olympian made a major contribution to the squad’s bronze medals at both the FIVB Volleyball Nations League and the FIVB World Championship in 2018 and was named as the opposite on the honorary Dream Teams of both competitions.

At the World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria, Anderson shared the top of the best servers chart on an average of 0.36 aces per set. Statistically, he was also the second best scorer and the second best spiker of FIVB’s flagship tournament. The opposite even found his way to the top of the best diggers ranking, finishing ninth.

At the VNL finals in France, Matt Anderson was also among the top ten in three of the statistical charts – for best scorers, for best spikers and for best servers. He finished third for both best spiker and best server of the preliminary round as well.

Anderson was on the starting line-up in 85 out of the 115 sets USA played at the World Championship and in the VNL combined and scored 320 spikes, 37 aces and 23 stuff blocks for a total of 380 points. In 2018, he was his national team’s top scorer for the eighth straight year, leading in both kills and serving aces.

Also in 2018, with his Russian club team Zenit Kazan, Matt Anderson won gold in Europe’s Champions League and took part in the FIVB Club World Championship. With their American star on the squad, Zenit also achieved a domestic golden treble, winning the national championship, the national cup and the national super cup of Russia.

A busy 2019 national team season will include the VNL, with the United States hosting the finals, an intercontinental Olympic qualification tournament, the NORCECA Champions Cup and, if the team qualifies, the FIVB World Cup.

“In 2019, I am looking forward to fighting for more medals and qualifying for the 2020 Olympics with some of my closest friends,” Anderson said. “We have another jam-packed competition schedule and it will take all of us to accomplish our goals.”