PARIS – Blowing a lead to lose to world No. 1 Poland was bad enough.
Losing to Italy would have only made it worse.
The United States men’s volleyball team doesn’t have to think about the second part. It swept Italy on Friday at South Paris Arena to secure the bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games and bounce back from Wednesday’s five-set semifinal defeat to Poland, a result its coach called ‘really devastating.’
‘This will help (us) move on,’ USA coach John Speraw said, ‘but I don’t think we’ll ever truly be over that (Poland) match. That’s a risk you take when you’re trying to achieve something great.’
It’s the second bronze in the past three Olympics for the U.S. men’s team, which redeemed itself three years after failing to advance out of the group stage at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Most of a veteran U.S. team returned from that previous Olympics, including Speraw.
‘This group has been together a long time, so we wanted to finish on a high,’ said U.S. libero Erik Shoji. ‘So that’s what we did. It was a little stressful, but we got it done.’
Against Italy, it wasn’t as easy as a 3-0 score might suggest. The U.S. grinded out a trio of tight, intense sets, ending 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 and celebrated with family afterward on the court.
‘This has been a great experience. We’ve played great volleyball,’ Speraw said. ‘I think (losing) would have been hurtful for a group of guys that has deserved Olympic medals.’
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 dealt the American men their lone defeat of these Olympics. The U.S. 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.
