Wheaton’s Jaeschke fills super-sub role, but U.S. falls in volleyball semifinals

Wheaton's Thomas Jaeschke had his finest performance of the Paris Olympics, but Poland rallied to defeat the United States 3-2 in Wednesday's volleyball semifinals.

Team USA (4-1) remains in contention for a second bronze medal in the last three Olympic Games. The Americans play Italy at 9 a.m. Friday at South Paris Arena 1.

Team USA won bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. These Olympics are a marked improvement over a 10th-place finish in Tokyo in 2021.

With no more than two points separating the teams in four of five sets on Wednesday, Poland (4-1) won 25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23 and 15-13.

Jaeschke, the 30-year-old Wheaton Warrenville South graduate in his third Olympics, entered Wednesday's match to start the third set and played all but one point the rest of the way.

"Thomas Jaeschke became the super-sub," said NBC play-by-play announcer Paul Sunderland.

The 6-foot-6 outside hitter scored 10 points, fourth on Team USA, on 9 kills and a block. He added a dig and his 87.50 success rate on receptions followed only Max Holt on Team USA, which also rosters 6-10 St. Francis graduate Jeff Jendryk.

Sent in by coach John Speraw to replace Torey DeFalco, Jaeschke and Aaron Russell led the United States to the most dominant set by either squad, a third-set, 25-14 Team USA win.

Jaeschke started early on the left side with a soft tip over the Polish block for a 1-1 tie, then drove another ball off the block for a 3-2 USA lead.

A former professional player in Poland, Jaeschke teamed with Taylor Averill to score on a block of Poland's 6-foot-8 Wilfredo Leon for a 16-9 USA lead. From his own back line Jaeschke dug a ball all the way to Poland's back line, just in for a 22-12 lead.

Jaeschke put Team USA on set point, 24-13, on a spike from a Holt assist, then handled Norbert Huber's serve leading to Russell's kill for the 25-14 set victory.

"Jaeschke has come on and played exceptionally well," Sunderland said.