After a disappointing loss to Canada in the Rio Olympics opener on Sunday, the United States men’s volleyball team has suffered another defeat, losing 3-1 to Italy in the preliminaries on Tuesday.
2016 Olympic results: Team USA men’s volleyball upset by Italy
Team USA desperately needs a win when the men’s volleyball team faces Brazil Thursday.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
It was a hard-fought match, but Italy prevailed on three of four sets. In the first set, Team USA and Italy were tied 26-all when a back row violation on American Aaron Russell locked up the win for Italy.
Team USA took the second set with a score of 25-20, and looked dominant doing so, but Italy bounced back in the third set, winning a close one, 25-23. The third set was lost on a challenge. Replay revealed that the final spike had touched the fingertips of an American player before going out of play, clinching the win for Italy. The fourth and final set also went to the Italians with a score of 25-23.
The United States has yet to score a single point in either of these two matches. They have not yet been eliminated, but only four teams from each of two pools advance to the quarterfinals.
Italy currently leads Pool A with six accumulated points. Canada, Brazil and France each have three points, and the United States and Mexico trail with zero points each. In Pool B, Argentina leads with six points, and Poland and Russia have three points each. Cuba, Iran and Egypt each have zero points.
Team USA desperately needs a win when it faces Brazil Thursday, Aug. 11 at 9:35 p.m. ET.
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