Nine Tokyo medallists selected in Argentina’s VNL roster

Marcelo Mendez clearly believes in continuity for the Argentinean men’s national team in 2022. Nine of the 12 players who won bronze at last year’s Tokyo Olympics are also in the 23-athlete list released by the head coach for the upcoming international season.

The selection includes most of the Tokyo 2020 team’s key players, most notably setter and team captain Luciano De Cecco, mercurial outside hitter Facundo Conte and star opposite Bruno Lima, the top scorer of the Games with 138 points.

The three Olympic medallists left off the list were 33-year-old opposite Federico Pereyra, 32-year-old outside hitter Cristian Poglajen and 30-year-old middle blocker Sebastian Sole, who are not part of the coaching staff’s plans for the 2022 season.

One of the new faces called up by Mendez, who recently extended his contract until at least the Paris 2024 Games, was 19-year-old outside hitter Manuel Armoa, the youngest player selected

Also the only selected athlete who currently plays in Argentina, Armoa was the MVP of the country’s national league Finals and its top scorer this past season, leading UPCN to their ninth title. He was also part of the Dream Team of last year’s FIVB Volleyball U21 World Championship and will appear on the senior team for the first time.

A first group of players will start their preparations for the Volleyball Nations League 2022 on May 2. Other athletes will join the group when they are released from their club duties.

Argentina will host the Netherlands for a series of exhibition matches in Buenos Aires at the start of June before heading to Ottawa, Canada, where they will debut in the VNL on June 8 against reigning world champions Poland.

Argentina men’s national team roster:

Setters: Luciano De Cecco, Matias Giraudo, Matias Sanchez and Pablo Urchevich

Opposites: Bruno Lima, Juan Barrera and Manuel Balague

Outside hitters: Facundo Conte, Nicolas Lazo, Jan Martinez, Nicolas Mendez, Ezequiel Palacios, Luciano Palonsky, Manuel Armoa and Luciano Vicentin

Middle blockers: Joaquin Gallego, Agustin Loser, Martin Ramos, Nicolas Zerba, Franco Medina and Flavio Rajczakoswki

Liberos: Santiago Danani and Franco Massimino

Quick links:
Volleyball Nations League 2022
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube