Italy’s men’s volleyball team put an end to a U.S. winning streak and ousted the Americans from the Rio Games in a five-set battle on Friday to go through to the final seeking their first Olympic gold medal.
Italy beat the United States 30-28 26-28 9-25 25-22 15-9 and will face defending gold medalists Russia or defending silver medalists Brazil on Sunday.
The Americans, seeking their fourth gold in the sport, went down to Italy in four sets in the preliminary round, and came back from the brink of elimination after a stunning win over hosts Brazil. But their run of four straight victories ended at the hands of their nemesis Italy.
With unstoppable spikes and ace serves by their top scorer Ivan Zaytsev, the Italians took the hard-fought first set.
The United States recovered the lead in the second set despite a barrage of killer spikes by Osmany Juantorena, a former Cuba national team wing spiker now playing for Italy.
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.
But Italy came back to secure victory with aces by Zaytsev and Juantorena in the fourth set and tie-breaker.
The crowd in Rio’s Maracanazinho stadium favored the Italians, roaring “Italia, Italia!” in support. The stadium speakers blared “Volare” when the Italians scored and “YMCA” when the Americans scored.
Current Olympic champions Russia play Brazil later on Friday.
*Culled from Reuters
