IRVINE, California – Junior Francesco Sani and sophomore Hilir Henno will join former Anteaters, David Smith, Kyle Russell and Kevin Tillie in representing their countries for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

Volleyball Nations League is the world's premier annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The top 16 teams in the world play four matches a week for three weeks of preliminary competition. The top eight teams will advance to the Final Round.

Smith, Russell and Sani are members of the 30-athlete US. Men's National Team roster, while Tillie and Henno will compete for France.

Fourteen players from the U.S. roster of 30 will be selected to travel to each week's preliminary round matches. Smith is on the roster for the first round where the U.S. opened with a 3-0 victory over No. 13 Netherlands. Smith added eight kills and two blocks in the win. The squad will play No. 4 Italy Thursday at 1:30 p.m. PT.

France opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Poland. Tillie was second on the team with 12 points on 10 kills.

The United States is hosting third-round preliminary matches on July 4-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. USA will face France on July 8 at 6:30 p.m.

The U.S. Men are coming off a silver medal at the 2022 VNL and are currently ranked sixth in the world.

Smith, who is one of two three-time Olympians (Matt Anderson) on the U.S. squad, was recently named Most Valuable Player on his Polish team, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, as they won their third consecutive CEV Champions League title. Smith had the match-winning kill in the 15-12 five-set victory.

Tillie, who was a member of UCI's back-to-back National Championships in 2012 and 2013, was a member of the French team that captured the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics. He earned first team All-American and All-MPSF honors twice as an Anteater as well being named to the NCAA All-Tournament team both years.

Russell, who has been a member of the U.S. Men's National Team since 2018, has played professionally in Korea, Germany, France and Poland and will be playing for Gioiella Prisma Taranto next season. A career highlight was recording eight consecutive aces while playing for Daejeon Samsung Bluefangs in 2022, a new record in the Korean V League.

Sani and Henno have both earned All-American and first team All-Big West honors twice while at UCI with Henno leading the nation in aces this season.

While not competing in the VNL, UCI freshman Will D'Arcy is training with the Australian Senior Men's National Team that will be competing in the Asian Games. Fellow Australian Thomas Hodges is competing on the FIVB tour.