The United States was aiming to get back to the gold medal match in men’s volleyball for the first time since 2008, but it wasn’t to be as they fell in five sets to Poland in the semifinals.
The U.S. won two of the first three sets, but Poland captured the last two, including the final one by a score of 15-13 as they finally prevailed on their fourth match point.
The United States will still have an opportunity to compete for a bronze medal later in the Olympics, which would be their third in the last five if they can prevail.
For Poland, this marks the first time since 1976 that they’ve reached the final, winning the gold medal against the Soviet Union in Montreal.
Tomasz Fornal was an absolute wrecking crew for the Poland squad with 13 points, including 12 on the attack. Norbert Huber was just as deadly, with 12 attacking points to his credit in the back-and-forth match.
Wilfredo Leon Venero led all Polish attackers with 22 points at the net in the victory.
Matthew Anderson led the Americans with 23 attacking points, with Aaron Russell earning 18. Thomas Jaeschke and Maxwell Holt each had nine points, with Holt securing two aces in the tight loss.
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Poland won the first set and the US won the middle two sets. Poland stormed back to win the fourth set 25-23, setting up a deciding fourth set.
The tight back-and-forth match continued, with Poland pushing ahead 10-7 after a series of miscues by the United States, including a critical net violation that left the American squad in danger of losing the contest.
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Fornal served the ball into the net to give the Americans back the ball at 10-8, but responded with an immediately kill to give Poland back their three-point lead.
Undeterred, the United States scored consecutive points to narrow Poland’s lead to one, forcing a timeout by the Polish squad. Poland slowly pushed toward a match point opportunity at 14-10, but the American squad wouldn’t back down, scoring three straight points to keep the match alive.
On the fourth match point, Poland finally prevailed after Leon Venero’s spike was blocked out of bounds, sending Poland to the title match for the first time since 1976 in Montreal.
The final is set for 6 a.m. Saturday. Poland will play either Italy or France with the gold medal on the line.
