Wheaton's Thomas Jaeschke on USA Olympic volleyball team

Thomas Jaeschke already has a state title and NCAA championship trophy to his credit in volleyball, and now the Wheaton native has a chance for an Olympic medal this summer.

USA Volleyball officials announced their 12-man roster for the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and Jaeschke made the cut along with seven other first-time Olympians.

The No. 5-ranked United States team begins pool-play on Aug. 7 against No. 10 Canada. The United States will play in Group A, which also includes No. 24 Mexico, No. 10 France, No. 4 Italy and the world's No.1 team, Brazil.

Jaeschke will have a chance to learn and play alongside outside-hitter Reid Priddy and middle-blocker David Lee, who were both a part of the 2008 team that won gold in the Beijing Olympic Games.

The 22-year-old Jaeschke, a 6-fooot-6 outside hitter, began paving his path toward the Olympics in 2012 when he led Wheaton Warrenville South High School to an undefeated season (42-0), capping it off with a win over Glenbrook North for the school's seventh state championship. At Loyola, Jaeschke helped the Ramblers capture back-to-back NCAA championships and earned Player of the Year honors in 2015.

With so many new players, USA head coach John Speraw said the team will have to rely less on individuals and more on the strength of the team.

"In order for us to achieve our goal, we are going to need one of the greatest collective efforts in USAV history," Speraw told TeamUSA.org writer Craig Bohnert. "We don't have the experience that past teams have had. For us to go through this is going to require all of us to be at our very best."