Paris Olympics: US men’s volleyball team wins bronze after defeating Italy

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The U.S. men’s volleyball team won the bronze medal on Friday, beating Italy 3-0. It was the U.S. men’s sixth volleyball medal and their third bronze medal. They won gold in 1984, 1988 and 2008.

The Americans defeated the Italians by winning the three sets: 25-23, 30-28 and 26-24.

Aaron Russell (15 points), Torey DeFalco (12) and Max Holt (11) were the standout players in attack for the Americans. Russell was on the bronze medal-winning United States team in Rio in 2016.

Alessandro Michieletto and Yuri Romano were the best Italians with 17 points each.

This was the fifth time since the 1988 Olympics that the U.S. men have competed for a medal. They previously won bronze in 1992 and 2016, and came up short for third in 2004. They have reached the gold medal match just once — in 2008 — since their victory at Seoul 1988.