The U.S. men’s volleyball team, featuring four players with Hawaii ties, bounced back from a disappointing semifinal result to sweep Italy in the Olympic bronze medal match in Paris on Friday.
Led by T.J. DeFalco’s 12 kills, the U.S. edged Italy in three closely played frames for a 25-23, 30-28, 26-24 victory. DeFalco had the deciding point in all three sets.
The team was coming off a deflating result against top-ranked Poland in the semifinals on Wednesday. But starting setter Micah Christenson (Kamehameha, USC) and libero Erik Shoji (Punahou, Stanford) received their second career bronzes (2016) while backup setter Micah Ma‘a (Punahou, UCLA) and middle Taylor Averill (Hawaii) received their first medals.
It was the third all-time bronze for the U.S. in the sport.
“I think this is probably the hardest game to play in international ball,” Christenson said, per USA Volleyball. “This bronze medal match 48 hours (after) you get gutted in the semifinal match – it’s something that we’ve experienced before unfortunately. It’s something that we triumphed out of both times. I think that says a lot about the character of this team, about the resilience we have both as individuals and as a collective unit.
“We made a decision to play for each other tonight and try to honor all of the work we’ve put in together throughout these years. I think we did that and more, and I couldn’t be more proud of us.”
Averill, who supplied seven kills in eight swings, became the first UH men’s volleyball alumnus to medal in the last four Olympic Games. The last was Clay Stanley when the U.S. won gold in 2008. Stanley, a three-time medalist (2004, 2008, 2012) and Carlos Briceno (bronze, 1992) are the only other men's volleyball Olympians out of UH.
Christensen was credited with 17 assists and eight digs to go with a kill. Shoji led the team with 12 digs.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.