The United States listens to the National Anthem.

Italy captain Cristian Savani: We are sorry we lost this match. Congratulations to the United States team. Our target for coming here was to play as long as possible and it was impossible but we played 15 sets in three matches.

USA captain Clay Stanley: It was a great effort by our team, especially players who came off the bench. Dave Smith, Sean Rooney. We took them out of their offense. We blocked a bunch of balls and we passed at a pretty decent level and sided out nicely. Italy pushed us for five sets. It is always good to play five sets and win. We have to take this experience and go to Bulgaria and get some wins there.

Italian coach Mauro Berruto: Congratulations to the USA team. They deserved to win. This was our highest-level match this week and I am more satisfied because for three sets we were playing at a really high level even if we have some problems. We are in a difficult condition so in the second hour of the match our physical condition diminished and that is why the USA team did better. We played our target, to play a lot. We played five sets. We are ready to get over to London.

USA coach Alan Knipe: It was a well played, high-spirited  match. It usually is between these two teams. We had a nice lead at the end of set one and made some nice plays and got that set late. I thought the guys did a great job of moving on and to work past that. They followed our game plan. We had a lot of highlights especially with playing time with David Smith and Sean Rooney and some other guys and I think that paid off a lot. Sean did a good job coming in and came in with fresh legs. David Smith continued to contribute and get us points. We are pleased. It was a must-win for us against a quality opponent, an Olympic opponent. It allows us to go on and gain experience before London. I want to wish the best for the Italian team as they prepare for London.

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