The U.S. women’s volleyball team will settle for silver at the Paris Olympics after dropping Sunday’s gold-medal final to Italy in straight sets.
Italy opened the match on a 6-1 run and never looked back. The team went on to win the first set 25-18, the second set 25-20 and the third set 25-17.
Team USA has medaled in women’s volleyball at five straight Olympics dating back to 2008. It reached a second straight gold medal match after defeating Brazil in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but it was on the wrong end of another 3-0 contest.
For Italy, the win marks the country’s first Olympic women’s volleyball medal of any kind and its first Olympic volleyball gold. The Italian women, who had never placed better than fifth in women’s volleyball on the Olympic stage, only lost a single set across six matches in Paris.
Team USA’s loss will have major ramifications in the Olympic medal table.
The U.S. trailed China 39-38 in gold medals entering the day, and women’s volleyball was a spot where the Americans could catch up. Instead, Team USA now trails by two with the final day of competition winding down.
