PARIS >> The United States beat world champions Italy in straight sets in Olympic men’s volleyball today to take the bronze medal, their sixth Olympic medal in the sport.

In a match of fine margins where all three sets could have gone either way, it was the Americans who did not crumble under the pressure as outside hitter Aaron Russell led the scoring with 15 points in a tight 25-23 30-28 26-24 victory.

The win earned the U.S. their third bronze to go level with Italy who have also won six medals at the Olympics but never the gold.

“Having your heart ripped out two nights before (in the semi-final) and then having to gear up and be there mentally for another match, that means so much. A bronze medal, an Olympic medal,” Hawaii’s Micah Christenson told reporters.

“This team is built on resilience, it’s built on toughness and togetherness and I think we showed that tonight.”

There was little to separate the teams in the opening set and Italy started well on defence but they were let down by their service game.

A service error from Daniele Lavia at 22-22 pushed the U.S. ahead before Matthew Anderson and Torey Defalco made kills to give them a 1-0 lead.

They were neck-and-neck in the second set as well and both teams had set points but failed to convert them as they made service errors under pressure, until Russell and Torey Defalco converted to help the Americans go 2-0 up.

That gave the U.S. a huge boost and they were impenetrable at the start of the third set when they won four block points as Italy struggled to find a way through Maxwell Holt, Christenson and Russell.

Alessandro Michieletto, who was joint top scorer in the match with 17 points along with Yuri Romano, came to Italy’s rescue to help draw them level and then take the lead to give the Europeans a glimmer of hope of staging a comeback.

But Anderson, who had a quiet game, suddenly turned the match with two explosive attack points.

Although Italy saved a match point after a long and chaotic rally, a block error from a Defalco spike sealed victory for the Americans.

“It’s a shame, we could have done something unlike in the semi-final,” Michieletto said.

“It was small details, that was the difference in the third set.”

The gold medal match between defending champions France and world number one side Poland will take place on Saturday. The U.S. women face Italy on Sunday for the gold medal.