As it turns out, the huge finish by the U.S. men’s volleyball team Wednesday night against Greece was exactly that. A finish. The U.S. lost its last two matches, including Sunday’s bronze-medal game against Russia.
“We got to such a crescendo in that game against Greece,” American captain Lloy Ball said, “that we may have left it all out there that night. We never seemed to recover.”
The U.S. had rallied from a 12-9 deficit in the fifth game of the quarterfinal against Greece. But the Americans never won a game after that, falling quickly to Brazil in the semifinals and folding in the third game of Russia’s 25-22, 27-25, 25-16 win.
“This one leaves a bad taste in our mouths,” middle blocker Ryan Millar said. “Maybe it is something we can use in 2008. Maybe we’ll fight harder in Beijing.”
It will be at least 16 years between medals for U.S. men’s volleyball, and Ball does not even see that as a certainty in Beijing.
“We have made progress, and it showed here,” he said. “But you also look at the top three teams here–Brazil, Italy and Russia–and you can see we still have a way to go.”
Brazil won the gold over Italy 25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22.