US Women’s Volleyball Heads to Quarters; US Men Eliminated

TOKYO (AP) — Coach Karch Kiraly knew there would be challenges and adversity to overcome if the U.S. women’s volleyball team wanted to win its first Olympic gold medal in the sport. His team has seen two key starters go down with ankle injuries, had an assistant coach sent to quarantine for two weeks and dealt with a straight-set loss to the Russian team. But after finishing pool play with a tense, five-set win over Italy despite setter Jordyn Poulter joining star Jordan Thompson on the injured list, the U.S. heads into the quarterfinals in good form.

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. men’s volleyball team was eliminated after pool play at the Olympics for the first time since 2000 after losing in three sets to Argentina. The Americans won two of their first three matches in Tokyo before losing to Brazil and Argentina to fall to fifth place in Pool B and miss out on the quarterfinals for the first time since losing all five matches in Sydney 21 years ago. The U.S. won bronze five years ago in Rio de Janeiro and brought back eight players from that team and high hopes for these Olympics.