A hard earned Bronze after a down and up and down and up tournament. The USA were near the brink of elimination after an 0-2 start in pool play but won the next 3 matches to secure advancement into the quarterfinals including a huge, and I mean huge win over host Brasil. The semifinal loss to Italy (second loss to them) was extremely heartbreaking. The USA went up 2-1 after a 25-9 set #3 only to lose the last two sets. They reversed the roles in the Bronze medal match with a great comeback down 0-2. Congrats to Team USA and Thomas Jaeschke on their achievement. I remember when USA Head Coach John Speraw and USAVolleyball CEO Doug Beal were sitting at Gentile at the 2014 NCAA Final watching Loyola win the crown.
On an interesting side note, OH Aaron Russell (Penn State) was named to the Olympics all-tournament team as one of the two most outstanding Outside Hitters. Jaeschke beat him in the NCAA Player of the Year voting in 2015. Russell, from my view, did have an outstanding offensive performance in Rio.
And a memory just popped into my head. Jaeschke's Olympic teammates Max Holt and Matt Anderson were starters on a Penn State team that defeated Loyola at Alumni Gym back in 2008 in a match I attended. That PSU team won the National Championship. Anderson was co-National Player of the Year and decided to forgo his senior season to play professional ball in Korea... a familiar story.