U.S. Men's Volleyball Team Takes Bronze, Local Connection

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Published on August 22 2016 1:49 pm
Last Updated on August 22 2016 1:49 pm
Written by Millie Lange

The United States rallied from a two-set deficit against Russia in volleyball on Sunday to win the Olympic bronze medal with a 3-2 victory.

Ranked fifth in the world, the Americans won 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-13. Matt Anderson spiked for match point against the stunned Russians.

The Americans linked arms in a tight circle and hopped in celebration as the crowd chanted "U-S-A!" The victory came the day after the U.S. women's team also won the Olympic bronze medal.

The United States has three gold medals in men's volleyball, most recently in the 2006 Beijing Games. The Americans won the bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

The No. 5-ranked U.S. men's volleyball team, with former University of Southern California All-Americans Micah Christenson and Murphy Troy, came back from a 2-set deficit to capture the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-13 win over No. 3 Russia on Sunday (Aug. 21).

The U.S. went on a 3-0 late run in the fifth set to build an 11-9 lead that the Russians couldn't overcome. It was the second bronze medal won by the U.S. men in Olympic play, along with one in 1992. The U.S. also has won 3 Olympic golds.

Christenson, the starting setter for the U.S. throughout these Games, had 60 assists, 5 digs, 2 kills and 1 ace against Russia. Troy did not see action in the match.

After starting off the Rio Games with a pair of losses (to No. 12 Canada in 3 sets and Italy in 4 sets), the U.S. squad won its final 3 Group Play contests, beating No. 1 Brazil in 4 sets, No. 11 France in 4 sets and No. 26 Mexico in 3 sets to advance to a quarterfinal berth, where it swept No. 2 Poland before losing a 5-set heartbreaker to No. 4 Italy in the semifinals.

Former USC All-American Murphy Troy came off the bench to post a match-best 10 kills to lead the U.S. men’s volleyball team to a 25-23, 25-11, 25-19 Group Play victory over Mexico on Monday, August 15, clinching a berth in the quarterfinals for the U.S.

Troy is a cousin to Effingham's Laura Schultz.