Player profile: Dmitriy Muserskiy

(I’m gonna perfectly honest here — I haven’t got a whole lot here, and this post is mainly just to break up the run of content about a Division II NCAA team people reading this blog may not necessarily give two shits about. So be warned, there’s more of that to come.)

Dmitriy Muserskiy is an imposing figure, a 7-foot-2 outside hitter (and such a sweet swinger) for the Russian national team. He weighs in at a lean 254 pounds to that 7-foot-2 frame, and his spike and block reach over 11 feet. This is not someone you relish looking back at you from across the net. He actually started his career as a middle blocker, but he’s got far better ball control skills than you usually associate with that position, leading to the switch to the outside (and some pretty imposing serving form). He’s been known to block swings without even jumping. At the London Olympic Village, he had to have a custom-made bed installed just to have something big enough to sleep in. If you look around a little more, there’s a ton more YouTube videos that he stars in. He’s a highlight-reel player, no doubt.

Muserskiy really burst on the scene in the 2010 World League, getting his first significant playing time in an important international tournament. He had qualified for the national team for the 2009 World League, and had to withdraw with injury, but he was a regular in 2010, poising himself as one of the team’s top scorers. He was named Best Blocker, as part of Russia’s silver-medal winning squad. His positional switch came in the following offseason, and he returned to the Russian World League squad in 2011.

Muserskiy let his big physical gifts lead the way in 2011. He scored 10 points in Russia’s five-set gold medal win over Brazil, getting six kills, two  blocks, and two aces. For his successes, he also earned the all-tournament honor as Best Server. He formed an excellent complement to another ‘sophomore’ scoring machine, Maxim Mikhaylov (who, interestingly, has also had a positional shift in his young career, the reverse of Muserskiy’s path). The two are only seven months apart in age and look to be a dominant force at the net for the next couple of Olympic cycles.

It was at these Olympic Games that Muserskiy (and Mikhaylov, for that matter) really broke through. Muserskiy led the way with 12 points in the Russians’ easy quarterfinal win over Poland, and they cruised past Bulgaria in four sets two days later.

That set the stage for the gold medal final against Brazil, a match which was the subject of one of my first posts. It was a thrilling match, with Brazil looking like they were going to ride high into their home Olympics in four years time as doubly-reigning gold medalists in indoor volleyball. And they in fact twice had championship point in the third set. But behind Muserskiy’s thunderous swings and towering block, the Russians came back to take their first gold medal in eight Olympics. He set a new Olympic record for points in a gold medal final with 31, including 28 kills, 2 blocks, and one ace. He hit a whopping .449 for the match (remember, .300 is considered quite good). The third set marked a switch in strategy on the Russian side, to feed Muserskiy more, and I’d say that was a pretty good call. Surprisingly, though, Muserskiy did not win any all-tournament honors (Mikhaylov took two). The dreams of an idiot came true, though, and Muserskiy was a big reason why.

Muserskiy still has a long and fulfilling career to look forward to (we hope). He’s still a young man, but has been married to his wife Inna for nearly two years already. He names cooking, reading, playing basketball (who knew?) and spending time with his wife as his favorite pastimes as away from the court. Look the hell out for him in next year’s World League.