Russia's Maxim Mikhaylov and Dimitriy Muserskiy led the team in scoring. Mikhaylov had 10 spikes, 2 aces and 1 block, finishing with 13 points. Muserskiy had 7 spikes, 3 blocks and 2 aces.
Russia looked too strong in the first set as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Poland battled back cutting the lead down to three making it an 7-5 game, but Russia pushed the lead by up to four cutting their rally by scoring two points making it 9-5. Poland once again threatened with a run and skimmed the lead down to two points with the game 14-12 on behalf of Russia. This when Russia went nuts. They scored six straight points making it an eight-point differential, which was too much to overcome. The set ended with Jakub Jarosz misfiring on the serve.
Poland followed with a valiant effort in the second set.
They jumped out to a 5-2 lead that quickly evaporated as Russia went on a 4-1 run to tie the game at six. Poland went on a 6-3 run to take a three-point advantage as the scoreboard read 12-9, but the three-point cushion was not enough as Russia tied it at 14 and then at 15.
The match tied one last time at 19 before Russia took the definitive 20-19 lead. After this point they never trailed and finished the set off on a spike from Mikhaylov.
The third set quickly became the Russia's as they jumped out to a 11-7 lead after the score was tied at seven. The four-point lead augmented to five and then six as the Russian's led Poland 17-11.
The Polish came close late in the match as they trailed only by three as they went on a 13-7 run. Russia swatted Poland away on another spike, this time by Alexander Volkov, who finsihed with 7 spikes in the game.The defending Olympic champion USA men's volleyball team was eliminated from London 2012 with a straight-set quarter-final loss to Italy on Wednesday.
The fifth-ranked United States struggled to defend the Italian captain Cristian Savani, who had 19 points in the 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 victory for the sixth-ranked Italians.
US setter Donald Suxho bent over with his hands on his knees and shook his head as Italy celebrated the win at Earls Court. After congratulating the Italians, the Americans turned to applaud the many US fans in the crowd.
The USA won the gold medal in Beijing, upsetting favorite Brazil 3-1. It was their third gold in men's volleyball, which became an Olympic sport in 1964. Russia is the only other nation with three triumphs; Italy has never won the Olympic gold, but the team has won silver twice, most recently at the 2004 Athens Games.
The Italians will face Brazil in Friday's semi-finals. The top-ranked Brazilians defeated Argentina in straight sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-10) earlier in the day.
The United States was led by captain Clay Stanley with 16 points. But ultimately the team was thwarted by Italy's powerful serves. Savani and Dragan Travica each had four aces. Stanley couldn't stop Michal Lasko's kill for match point and Italy won the match when Matt Anderson misplayed a return on Savani's serve for an ace. The US argued the point, but to no avail.
The US went 4-1 in the preliminary round to capture the top seeding going into the quarter-finals. They defeated top-ranked Brazil 3-1 but lost in five sets to Russia, snapping an 11-match winning streak in Olympic play that dated back to the Beijing Games in 2008.
The team's undefeated run in Beijing was an emotional one after coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law was stabbed to death at a Chinese tourist site a day before the opening ceremony. McCutcheon missed the team's first three matches but rejoined them to guide them to the gold. After victory, McCutcheon moved to the US women's team and Alan Knipe took over the men's team.
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