About

Pro Volley Overseas

   Ryan has extensive international experience competing in Europe, USA, and Australia. He has played in all three CEV events: the CEV Challenge Cup, CEV Cup, and CEV Champions League. Over his career, he has competed professionally in 10 countries: the USA, Hungary, Norway, Finland, Romania, Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, and Spain.

 

In the 2018 Hungarian Cup Final Four, he was named team MVP — becoming the first libero in Hungarian Cup Final Four history to win the award. After the 2019 Norwegian season, he was honored as the Norwegian team's Player of the Year. During the 19/20 season in Finland, according to Mestaruusliiga individual stats, Ryan finished ranked number 1 on the libero reception chart and earned recognition as Best Receiver (2019/2020) [ http://lml-web.dataproject.com/Statistics.aspx?ID=55&PID=56 ]. 

 

In 21/22, he and his Romanian team captured the Romanian SuperCup for the first time in club history and finished as league vice-champions. In the summer of 2022, Ryan and his NVA team, the Las Vegas Ramblers, won the NVA USA Championship. Later that autumn, he and his Portuguese club claimed the Portuguese SuperCup for the first time in club history. The same season, his Portuguese club earned bronze in the 2023 CEV Challenge Cup — the club’s highest-ever finish in the competition — and finished as league & cup runners-ups. In 23/24, he and his German club won silver in the German Cup  - first Bundesliga medal in the club’s history! In 25/26, Ryan & his Czech club finished as league & cup silver medalists. 

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In 2025, Ryan helped the Queensland Pirates win the Australian Super League championship with an undefeated season. During his time in Australia, he trained and competed alongside current and former Australian National Team players. Following the season, Ryan represented Team USA at the 2025 Deaf Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, the 100th anniversary of the Deaf Olympics, helping Team USA reach the Final Four and achieve the program's best Deaf Olympics result in 32 years since 1993. 

   

Ryan was born in Santa Monica, California, and played college at Long Beach State University, where he was coached by Alan Knipe, head coach of the 2012 USA Men's Olympic Volleyball Team in London. At Long Beach State, Ryan trained and competed alongside with his college teammates: USA Olympians TJ Defalco and Kyle Ensing & USA National Team setter Josh Tuaniga for 3 years before continuing his journey in professional volleyball overseas. Click on "Resume" to see more of his accomplishments. 

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USA Deaf National Volleyball Team 🇺🇸

   Ryan was born profoundly deaf in both ears. He uses small hearing aids and relies on lip-reading to communicate with players & coaches - similar to David Smith, the 4x Olympian and deaf middle blocker on the USA Men's National Volleyball team. With the support of over 15 years of speech therapy, Ryan learned how to communicate orally and went on to build a career in professional volleyball.

       

Ryan is a current member of the USA Deaf Men's National Volleyball team (2016-2017, 2024 - Present).

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After returning to the USA Deaf Men's National Volleyball Team in 2024, Ryan helped lead a very young and newly rebuilt USA Deaf Men's National Volleyball Team to a historic breakthrough at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships in Columbus, Ohio. In the team's first appearance at the Columbus Ohio event, Team USA Deaf  advanced to the Gold Bracket - becoming the first Deaf team ever to reach in the Gold Bracket in the elite hearing division - and finished among the Top 8 teams out of 72 after entering the USAV Open Nationals as the 46th seed. 

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In 2025, Ryan helped Team USA earn the Silver Medal at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships in Denver, Colorado, becoming the first Deaf team ever to win a medal in the elite Men's A hearing division.

 

Ryan was named Best Receiver at the 2016 Deaf Pan-American Games in Washington D.C. In 2017, Ryan represented Team USA at the Deaflympics (Deaf Olympics) in Samsun, Turkey. In 2024, Ryan helped Team USA finish 4th at the 2024 Deaf World Championship in Okinawa, Japan - the highest finish in program history at the event. In 2025, Ryan represented the United States at the 2025 Deaf Olympics (100th anniversary of Deaflympics) in Tokyo, Japan, where Team USA finished 4th - the USA program's best Deaf Olympic result in 32 years since 1993.​