With six straight days of competitive beach volleyball, the USA National Beach Tour Junior Championship took to the sands of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 10-15, and did not disappoint.

The U.S. Men fought hard and nearly forced a fifth set, but fell to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 21-25, 25-23) on Monday at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

During this year’s Games, a special group of athletes will gather in the Colorado mountains to watch the Tokyo event. The 1980 Olympic Women’s Team was the only volleyball team to qualify for this Olympics in the period between 1968 and 1984. However, they were unable to compete because of the U.S. boycott.

t the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where the stands are mostly empty due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the team is making its own noise to keep the energy flowing. That wasn’t a problem on Sunday as the U.S. Women beat Argentina, 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

Typically, beach volleyball duos spend years perfecting their partnership and preparing for the Olympic Games. U.S. pair Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne? They had four days.

The U.S. Men opened the Olympic Games with a strong performance, sweeping France, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-22) on Saturday at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

In a match between four Olympic veterans, U.S. Olympic beach volleyball squad Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena came up shy in a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) loss to Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands Saturday.