Men’s National Team opposite Matt Anderson spent a week in Hawaii this summer.

A well-deserved vacation for one of the world’s best volleyball players? A chance to see Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor?

Nope. Primarily, it was a business trip you might say.

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The U.S. men, ranked No. 2 in the world, were in Hawaii in late July preparing for the World Championships.

“For me it was still training.” Anderson said. “We were there for seven days and six of those days we were training or playing (two scrimmages).”

Anderson said he was “more focused on that, because we had bigger things on the horizon.” Namely, the World Championships.

Anderson is one of eight members of the team that won Olympic bronze in Rio, who will also be heading to the World Championships in Italy and Bulgaria.

Head coach John Speraw is especially focused on the World Championships, in part because of the team’s finish—a tie for seventh place—at the 2014 Worlds.

U.S. Men ?? defeat Slovenia, 25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21 to conclude the #LjubljanaVolleyballChallenge. U.S. finishes 3-0. Next stop, Bari, Italy for #FIVBMensWCH pic.twitter.com/PIY4scevNj

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“I’d like to do well at the Worlds, obviously it’s because it’s the World Championship, but because it’s the one tournament where I felt like we didn’t do very well last quad” Speraw said.

The U.S. men won the World Cup for the first time in 30 years in 2015—the same year they won bronze in World League.

One year earlier, in 2014, Team USA won World League for the second time. 

Speraw’s guys finished on the podium in the inaugural Volleyball Nations League this summer, with a bronze medal.

Now they hit the court, trying to win a tournament they have not won since 1986.

”We wanted an opportunity to play in the finals of VNL, and just came up a little bit short,” Speraw said “so hopefully we’ll learn from it and hopefully be a little bit better at World Champs.” 

Missing a chance at VNL gold also doesn’t sit well with outside hitter Aaron Russell. 

“It is a little bit upsetting that we didn’t win (VNL)” Russell said.

But that does provide motivation for the Worlds. 

“I think that kind of fuels us,” Russell said. “We want to come back and beat the teams that beat us (in VNL), we saw Russia win it they looked very strong in that finals match so we have them in our pool (at) World Champs so we know we gotta be prepared for that.”

Also in the USA’s pool: Serbia, Australia, Cameroon and Tunisia.

Clearly Team USA players are setting their sights on the top of the podium. 

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— USA Volleyball (@usavolleyball) September 7, 2018

“I would hold disappointment if we didn’t accomplish a gold medal,” Anderson said. “I don’t think that’s expectation I just think that’s a realistic goal, an attainable goal for us.”

In his second year with the national team, opposite Ben Patch is on the roster for the World Championships.

When Patch plays right side, it allows Anderson to also play outside hitter, where the U.S. is slightly thinner with the loss of Thomas Jaeschke, who injured his left ACL in Week 4 of VNL.

But along with Anderson and Russell, the U.S. also has Taylor Sander at outside hitter.

Sander, who will serve as the U.S. captain for Worlds, was named one of the top two outside hitters in VNL.

The Team USA 14-man roster for the World Championships includes three outside hitters and five middle blockers.

After a four-team, three-day tournament in Slovenia, the U.S. men begin the World Championships a few days later with a match Sept. 12 against Serbia. 

The entirety of the tournament will steam LIVE on FloVolleyball.