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Outside attacker TJ DeFalco came through in the biggest moment to put the United States on the medal podium.
DeFalco in the third-game overtime delivered the match-winning kill as the United States swept Italy 25-23, 30-28, 26-24 to win the Olympics bronze medal on Friday in Paris.
The former Long Beach State All-American finished with a team-high 12 kills en route to United States winning its sixth all-time Olympics men’s volleyball medal and first medal since 2016. Along with the bronze-medal winning kill, DeFalco had the game-winning kill to prevent overtime in the first game and then in the second game had the game-winning kill to end the 10-point overtime session.
This performance from DeFalco comes after the two-time Olympian was substituted out of the match during the team’s five-game loss to Poland in the semifinals. DeFalco also was hitting in the negative for the majority of the opening game against Italy before having a combined 10 kills on a .348 attack percentage in the final two games.
All five starting pin-hitters and middle attackers finished with more than five kills as the United States out-hit Italy .354 to .302.
Former Penn State outside attacker Aaron Russell had 11 kills on a .375 attack percentage. Former Penn State opposite Matt Anderson added eight kills, including a team-high four kills in the opening game.
Both U.S. middle attackers had one combined attack error and hit more than .600 against Italy.
Former Hawai’i All-American Taylor Averill had seven kills on a team-best .750 attack percentage, while Max Holt contributed six kills and zero errors.
Holt, a former Penn State All-American, also led players with four blocks. The United States finished the match with nine blocks – four more blocks than Italy.
Pin-hitter Yuri Romano in the loss had a match-high 17 kills on a .538 attack percentage. Romano concluded the Olympics leading all players with a combined 88 kills throughout the tournament.
Italy in the third game overcame an early six-point deficit to tie the game at 16-16. It also fought off a match-point on a length rally to force overtime.
Italy, though, on the opening play of overtime committed a service error. Former Stanford libero Erik Shoji on the next play dug an Italian kill attempt to set up DeFalco’s match-winning kill.
The United States had a match-best .500 attack percentage in the second game but needed overtime to take the two-game lead. In addition, the United States had to fight off two Italian game-points before gaining the advantage in overtime on a Shoji dig-kill en route to the win.
Holt in the opening game led all players with two blocks, including a block to give the United States a 22-21 lead. The middle attacker also from the service line helped the United States score a natural point to set up a game-point opportunity.
The United States with this victory has now won a medal in three of the last five Olympics. The country won the gold medal at the 2008 games and then the bronze medal in 2016.