And then, desite their best effort, it was gone. “We just didn’t do it”. “We worked hard, and it’s tough”. “When you have two good teams like this, you should expect a lot of fight from both sides”.
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With the large crowd loudly and enthusiastically cheering for Italy, the USA had a four-point lead late in the first set with five set-point opportunities to win, only to fall 30-28 to the Italians.
Italy saved five set points in the opening set and Piano said he had some inspirational words for Zaytsev. I don’t think we will ever regret the way we played here.
“We were on such a high in the third set, but then we had a drop in energy in the fourth and they took advantage of that”, Anderson told reporters. Italy has been the spoiler in these Games, though, and now the Americans will have to go for bronze.
The Americans streaked ahead with a 15-point run in the third with its top scorers outside hitter Matt Anderson and main server and setter Micah Christenson having a field day.
“The fourth set, we’ve got to be tougher and close that out”, USA outside hitter Taylor Sander said.
Said middle blocker Max Holt: “They just outplayed us there”. Holt, who also had 10 kills, had as many blocks as the entire Italian team.
“I have all the faith in our guys to fight and be tough through this match”, said US outside hitter Matt Anderson, another former Nittany Lion.
The U.S led the first set 15-8 and seemed to be in control at 23-19. But this team features eight new players from the group in 2012.
The game turned, however, on Italy’s serving.
Italian coach Blengini Gianlorenzo, however, lit a fire under his men prior to the start of the fourth set, which Italy won thanks in large part to three key aces by Zaytsev.
“I was excited”, he said of the serves that topped 123 kilometers an hour. Even after Italy had some trouble early in the fifth set with its serves, it was able to settle back down and put the match away.
“I know that my players gave it everything that they could today”, US coach John Speraw said.
“I am disappointed, but I know that my players gave everything that they could”, Speraw said. Brazil will be playing in its fourth straight final and will be looking for its first gold since 2004 in Athens.
“We had it in the first, and we should have won that set”, he said. “We still got a chance to do that”.
Now the Americans have to recover and prepare for the bronze-medal match Sunday against the loser of the Russia-Brazil match. “And then get back to work tomorrow”.
“It’s hard, hard to deal with”, he said.
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“Getting a chance to win a medal at the Olympic Games is pretty dang cool”, US outside hitter Taylor Sander said. We have a chance to do that and that will soften this a little bit. Getting a chance to medal at the Olympics is pretty dang cool, and we’ve still got a chance to do that.
