U.S. men’s volleyball suffers heartbreaking loss in Olympics semifinals

Reuters Wilfredo Leon Venero of Poland in action with KS-Hawai‘i alum Micah Christenson of United States and former UH middle blocker Taylor Averill of United States on Wednesday in Paris. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

The United States men’s volleyball team lost a heartbreaker in the semifinal round of the Paris Olympics today when Poland came back to advance to the gold medal match with a 25-23, 25-27, 25-14, 23-25, 15-13 win.

Poland, ranked No. 1 in the world in the FIVB world rankings, put the game away on their fourth match point when Wilfredo Leon hammered his 22nd kill hard off a double block and out.

Former University of Hawaii middle blocker Taylor Averill had five kills in seven attempts and Kamehameha alumnus Micah Christenson had a match-high 60 assists and seven digs for the United States.

Punahou alum Erik Shoji added 10 digs for Team USA, which led two sets to one and was up by as many as four points in the fourth set before Poland came roaring back.

The United States scored the first point in the fifth set but never led again.

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