The US volleyball team won the bronze medals at the Paris Olympic Games after a 3-0 (25:23, 30:28, 26:24) victory over the Italian team. The Americans remained maximally concentrated at the end of the second and third sets and clinched the award.
Russell scored 15 points for the winners (3 blocks and 1 ace), DeFalco added 12, and middle blocker Holt contributed 11 (4 blocks and 1 ace).

For the "Squadra Azzurra," Michieletto and Romano scored the most points in the match – 17 each, but this was not enough for anything more than an honorable loss.

Honorable, because the Italians resisted until the very end, especially in the second set, when they had two opportunities to close it, but an error by Russo and a ball that ricocheted off the US libero and returned to an uncovered part of the "Squadra's" court put an end to hopes for a different outcome of the match.

In the third set, the Italians also had their chances after Italy took a 19:18 lead, but two errors by Romano gave the Americans an advantage. Romano partially redeemed himself for 21:20. The young Sanguinetti also made a good contribution, making it 23:22 for his team, but a service error by Lavia "ate up" this advantage. A high attack over the block by Anderson led to the first match point for the USA. Michieletto, who played steadily in this match, briefly postponed the North Americans' triumph. It came after a missed serve by Sanguinetti and a powerful attack by DeFalco.

The victory returned the Americans to the top three teams at the Olympics, after they failed to make it to the top four in Tokyo three years ago. This was their third bronze and sixth overall medal won by the country in men's volleyball - the North Americans have gold in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, and Beijing 2008, and bronze medals from Barcelona 1992 and Rio 2016.
Seven US volleyball players in Paris will wear their second Olympic medals, as they were also with the team in Brazil eight years ago - setter Micah Christenson, opposite Matt Anderson, outside hitters Aaron Russell and Thomas Jaeschke, middle blockers David Smith and Max Holt, as well as libero Erik Shoji.
39-year-old Smith, 37-year-old Anderson and Holt, 36-year-old Garrett Muagututia, and 34-year-old Shoji are the most likely candidates to end their international careers.
The fourth place of the current world champions Italy is their second failure to reach the podium in two consecutive editions of the Olympic Games.
The victory in the bronze medal match elevated the Americans to second place in the FIVB world ranking, as with the 12.93 points earned, they climbed two spots to a total of 365.87. Italy, on the other hand, fell from third to fifth place with 347.10.