Tavana Joins U.S. Volleyball in Japan

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Former BYU men's volleyball player Futi Tavana has been chosen as one of six players to represent USA Volleyball in Japan as part of a training team. 

This training team will scrimmage and help prepare Japan's Men's National for the Asian continental Olympic qualification tournament being held June 1-10 in Tokyo.

Tavana is joined by Tony Ciarelli (USC), Jeff Menzel (UC Santa Barbara), Will Price (Penn State), Kawika Shoji (Stanford) and Austin Zahn (USC). 

"The training drill for Day 1 (Wednesday) was that Japan was all side-out and USA was serve, block and defense," said USA's coach Gordon Mayforth. "USA and Japan each won three rotations (23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-19). Then we played 2 more sets of the same style: Japan only side-out and USA serve (20-25, 27-29). So overall Japan won 5 sets and USA, 3."

The team arrived in Japan on Tuesday, May 22, and will leave Sunday, May 27. 

"Friday will be a mix of drill and real games," Mayforth said. "Saturday will be a day off and Team USA will attend the Japan vs. Russia women's Olympic Qualification match. Sunday we will have a live match to finish our trip."