Osmany Juantorena shows his satisfaction after the Italian victory over the United States
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2016 – Italy outdueled USA in a well fought match 3-1 (28-26, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23) in Pool A of the men’s volleyball tournament at Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Tuesday.
It was the second victory for Italy in as many outings while USA was pushed against the ropes in the difficult group with their second defeat.
Osmany Juantorena registered 20 points, for the Italian squad, followed by Ivan Zaytsev and Filippo Lanza who finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
USA’s Aaron Russell had a match-high 22 points to lead four American players in double figures. Matt Anderson scored 14, while Taylor Sander and Maxwell Holt had 12 each in the loss.
USA saved a set-point at 23-24 with a spike by Russell right after a big serve from Anderson. At 26-26, Holt crashed his serve and then Russell committed foot-fault in his attack from the back court for the 28-26 result in favor of Italy.
One key block by Holt against Zaytsev and the ace by Anderson gave USA a comfortable 20-16 lead in the second set. Russell closed the set 25-20 with a spike from back court.
At 18-18 in the third set Sander missed with his spike and Juantorena blocked Lee for a two-point advantage of Italy. The actions closed 25-23 for Italy with Lanza’s spike that barely touched a fingertip of Lee.
USA came erased a two-point deficit to tie the fourth set 23-23 with spikes by Russell and Anderson, but Anderson netted his serve and Filippo Lanza scored with his spike for the 25-23 score in favour of Italy.