U.S. men’s volleyball team loses to Italy in semifinals

Three points stood between the U.S. men’s volleyball team and a spot in the final. The Americans were three points from beating Italy in the fourth set until Ivan Zaytsev exerted his will and his equally formidable serve, pushing it to a fifth set with three straight aces.

The 27-year-old Italian with the spiky hair and tattoos simply refused to let it slip away, contributing an inspirational performance. Italy finished the fourth set with a devastating 6-0 run and closed out the fifth with a 5-1 surge.

For the Americans, their well-developed survival skills in Rio vanished late in their semifinal as Italy won, 30-28, 26-28, 9-25, 25-22, 15-9, at Maracanazinho Arena.

“It hurts. I’m so proud of the way we fought,” U.S. outside hitter Taylor Sander said. “It was a great match. It was fun to be a part of that.”

Italy moves on to Sunday’s gold-medal match against Brazil or Russia, who played later Friday. The U.S. will play for bronze against the loser of that second semifinal.

“It’s really really hard,” U.S. Coach John Speraw said. “I almost feel like today we need to mourn and just get it out of our system. I know we will.”

Said middle blocker Max Holt: “They just outplayed us there. They got guys like you saw that can go on great runs. . . . When you’re up that late, 22-19, you’ve just got to make one play. We just didn’t do it.”

The U.S. had been trying to avenge an earlier loss to Italy in pool play as well as a devastating three-set defeat four years ago at the London Olympics. But this team features eight new players from the group in 2012.

Italy has never won Olympic gold in men’s volleyball. It has taken silver twice, in 1996 and 2004.

“It’s our opportunity,” Italy middle blocker Matteo Piano said. “We know what we have done to be here. . . . It’s a dream that can continue.”

FULL COVERAGE: 2016 Summer Games »

Italy saved five set points in the opening set and Piano said he had some inspirational words for Zaytsev.

“When he go to serve in the first set, I scream, ‘Like in the World League,’” Piano said. “Because in the World League of 2013 against the U.S. he had three aces or something like that.”

The U.S. was close to a two-sets-to-none deficit, saving a set point in the second. It is rare to hold a high-quality team such as Italy under 10 points but that’s what happened in the third set.

Italy escaped in the fourth set and the U.S. lamented its lost opportunities, including the five squandered set points in the first.

“We have to have attention all the way through the match,” Matt Anderson said. “You’re not golden until you have all three sets.”

The road has been anything but easy for the U.S. in Rio. It lost its first two games in pool play, to Canada and Italy, before finding the right touch and aggressive approach after a team meeting.

Now the players will have to shift their focus from gold to bronze.

“It sucks to have some regret,” said Sander, who is from Huntington Beach. “It’s over and we’ve got to live with it now. We get another chance to play together. Getting a medal is amazing. We have a chance to do that and that will soften this a little bit. Getting a chance to medal at the Olympic Games is pretty cool.

“Bummer it’s not the right color. . . . We’re going to treat it like a gold-medal match.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Follow Lisa Dillman on Twitter @reallisa