PARIS – The United States men’s volleyball team beat Italy on Friday at South Paris Arena to secure the bronze medal and polish off a solid showing at the Paris Olympic Games.
It’s the second bronze in the past three Olympics for the U.S. men’s team, which successfully rebounded three years after failing to advance out of the group stage at the Tokyo Olympics. Most of a veteran U.S. team was back from that previous Olympics, including coach John Speraw.
On Friday, the U.S. won two tight opening sets and ended up with a 25-23, 30-28, 26-24 victory. Each team had set points in the second before the Americans were able to pull it out.
The U.S. will also face Italy on Sunday in the women’s volleyball final, with the American team hoping to win gold for the second consecutive Olympics.
France and Poland will play for the men’s gold medal Saturday.
Poland, the world’s No. 1-ranked team, beat the U.S. in the semifinals to hand the American men their lone defeat of these Olympics. It was a “heartbreaking” result, said U.S. captain Micah Christenson, given that the Americans led two sets to one before dropping each of the final two sets by two points each. Poland beat the U.S. despite a 111-104 deficit in total points.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA men’s volleyball wins bronze medal at Paris Olympics
