When it was all said and done, Russia came out victorious once again this year as they took out team USA.

At the end of a major tournament, it often seems like the silver medalists are the most disappointed team on the podium. Sure, the bronze medalists lost in the semifinals, but they finished the tournament with a win. 

It wasn’t exactly the Curse of the Bambino, but the members of the U.S. men’s national volleyball team are no less relieved to have finally vanquished the semifinal curse that has kept them out of gold-medal matches in four major tournaments in the past four seasons.

A year and a few months after tearing his ACL, you’d have to say Thomas Jaeschke is officially back.

On the second day of Volleyball Nations League Final Round Pool Play, Poland defeated Iran and Russia swept France, results which locked in three of the four semifinalists for the tournament. 

The men’s VNL Final Round begins Wednesday, with the six remaining teams battling it out for three nights of pool play before Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s medal rounds. 

The U.S. women’s national team certainly didn’t take the easy road to a repeat Volleyball Nations League gold medal. 

I’m just gonna put it out there: July 7, 2019, was a great day for women’s sports in the United States.

Before any of the 16 teams in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League launched a serve on Sunday, the final day of the preliminary rounds, the six teams that would advance to the Final Six had already been determined. 

For the U.S. women’s national volleyball team, the road to a repeat gold medal at the Volleyball Nations League runs through Poland and Brazil.