The United States has given up every margin for error in their chase for a medal, falling to 0-2 in pool play with a loss to Italy on Tuesday in Rio.
A tremendous first set, competitively speaking, saw the out-of-sorts Yanks chasing Italy. The European side took a 24-22 lead but Italy served out of bounds before Matt Anderson tied the score.
Italy came out on top in the set, 28-26.
The Americans, much like their women’s counterparts on Monday, found form in the second set, and carried it to a 25-20 win. The trends unfortunately carried over to the third set, where Italy took a 25-23 win.