For the men of the United States volleyball team, the 2024 Paris Olympics had nearly every kind of emotion possible. From redemption, to elation, to heartbreak and all the way around, these Olympics had everything.

Coming off an embarrassing performance in Tokyo, when the men crashed out in pool play for the first time since Sydney 2000, the team knew changes had to be made. 

"The way that we've prepared the last few years," said 37-year-old captain, Matt Anderson, in an exclusive interview with NBCOlympics.com, "we've just become a better team, better volleyball players, and more equipped with different ways to win."

After Tokyo's early exit, the men turned things around in a big way, rolling into the semifinals against the top-ranked team in the world, Poland. In that semifinal, the United States had one foot in the Olympic final, leading two sets to one and holding a lead in the fourth. Anderson knew it: 

We had them in the fourth set.

And then, they lost it. Poland somehow managed to dust itself off and come all the way back in the fourth to force a fifth. That final set was never close, Poland had too much momentum and kept it going all the way to the gold medal match.

"I was heartbroken," said Taylor Averill.

It was also a wild rollercoaster of emotions to lose a match of that magnitude in the way the United States did. 

"It's really tough to swallow," said Averill, "and at the same time the kid in me was like, 'Dude, you just got to play in an epic match in the semifinals. How stoked are you?'"

The men gave themselves a night to digest the emotions and sit with the loss, but Anderson said the next day it was right back to work. The U.S. still had a match to play and a chance to leave Paris with hardware in hand.

"We kind of grouped together right before training," said Anderson, "and were able to air out some personal feelings and thoughts about the match, about the experience, how we're all doing in the moment and then we went about our day."

The Americans took on Italy in the bronze medal match and came to play right from the jump, rolling Italy in straight sets to capture its seventh all-time Olympic medal in men's volleyball.

"Before we went to sleep I wrote a message to the group," said Anderson, "just saying, 'We got this. As long as we can work together and rely on each other through this, we can win this and still leave this tournament with great memories.'"

"We came together," said three-time Olympian Micah Christenson. "We had a big discussion about how we have an opportunity here to still come home with an Olympic medal and that is something to be so proud of. We had a discussion about, 'Let's play for each other. We owe it to each other, we owe it to this journey that we've been on together for these three, four, even 10 years that some of us are here together.'"

On the court after the game, Christenson told NBC's Heather Cox that the win was "bittersweet" because many of the guys on the team may be coming to the end of their national team careers. The U.S. was the oldest team in the tournament with just three players under the age of 30 on the roster. 

"I understand that we have a finite athletic career," said Christenson, "and so to understand that we are not going to be able to be in the locker room and share the bus rides with certain guys anymore — we have that understanding going into it — but it is such a bitter thing to think about because we love each other and we're going to miss these moments."

Two of those retirees could be Christenson and Anderson, who are both two-time bronze medalists from Rio and Paris. Anderson said after the game he is not retiring, and told NBCOlympics.com he is tentatively signing up for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

"I'm going to take at least one summer off and really dive into my family and the people that I care the most about outside of this group," said Anderson, "and tend to some relationships that this job takes us away from. But, I'm tentatively signing on for LA."

As attention turns towards Los Angeles, the U.S. will have a chance to repeat history when the Games come home. The first of the men's three volleyball golds came at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, led by U.S. women's head coach and volleyball legend, Karch Karaily. 

Whether Anderson is there or not, things are sure to look very different heading into LA. No matter how much the roster changes, the goal will remain the same: bring home the gold in front of the home crowd. 

When asked, the guys said it would mean everything to them to win at home, and Anderson said it would be the perfect sign off. 

I'll tell you what, we win gold and I'm there? That's gonna be my retirement.