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RIO DE JANEIRO -- The United States mens volleyball team was so devastated by Fridays five-set semifinal loss to Italy that coach John Speraw looked as if he were sitting at a funeral rather than at the standard postmatch news conference. He sounded that way as well.Its really, really, hard. I almost feel like today we need to mourn and get it out of our system, Speraw said. I know that we will. You cant not do that. But then tomorrow morning were going to have to regroup and start mentally preparing ourselves for the next match.The next match will be for the bronze medal rather than gold, which in some ways can be a more difficult challenge than going for gold.Three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh-Jennings said that was the case for her after she and April Ross were upset in their beach volleyball semifinal this week, and she then played for bronze for the first time in her Olympic career. Thats because as much as everyone wants to win gold, at least the loser of the championship match goes home with a silver medal. Not so in the bronze-medal match. The winner of that match takes home a medal. The loser takes home mostly regret and disappointment.The Americans already had those latter emotions hanging around their necks after Fridays loss.I dont know what to say about that, Taylor Sander said. It happens, and it happened, and it sucks.Despite losing its first two matches in this tournament, the U.S. had recovered well (including an upset of Brazil) to advance to the semifinals. And as good as the Italian team is -- Speraw says it is the favorite to win gold -- the U.S. was in position to win several times.With the large crowd loudly and enthusiastically cheering for Italy, the U.S. had a four-point lead late in the first set with five set-point opportunities to win, only to fall 30-28 to the Italians. It recovered to win a close second set 28-26, then blew away Italy 25-9 in the third set. The U.S. also was in strong position to win the match with a 22-19 fourth-set lead, only to fail to score another point and lose 25-22.When a team loses like that in a set, youre going to get everything they have thrown back at you, Matt Anderson said of what it was like heading into the fourth set. I think we handled it well for most of that set, but there were a couple plays we could have taken care of better and taken a bigger lead and put us in a better spot.Italy then won the fifth set 15-9 in convincing fashion. While the Italians celebrated and the crowd went crazy, several of the U.S. players sat on the court stunned and teary-eyed by the loss.I thought we had so many opportunities to win this game in three or four sets, U.S. captain David Lee said. But in the big moments, the Italian team served the ball incredibly well, and that was the difference.Now the Americans have to recover and prepare for the bronze-medal match Sunday against the loser of the Russia-Brazil match. If its Brazil, the Americans will definitely have the fans roaring against them again. But they were able to draw energy from that fan excitement last week when they beat the host country and sent the crowd home much quieter. They need to do so again Sunday, or they will be so disappointed they could spend the closing ceremonies sitting and staring into space rather than marching and celebrating.I have all the faith in our guys to fight and be tough, Anderson said. Of course, there will be disappointment and setback the next couple hours. But were all in this together. Our goal was gold, and we cant have it now, so now our goal is bronze, and well take it on. Discount NFL Jerseys . 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Outside of the pool, swimmer Fran Halsall admits to showing off, dancing at every opportunity, listening to 70s rock and taking her hairy hound Blu to important meetings.In the coming weeks, that 70 per cent will rise for the GB star who has qualified for her third Olympics and was recently Queen of the European Championships, winning five medals, including three gold. But dont think the fun will completely cease in Brazil. The Southport-born 26-year-old opens up about her character in and out of the water, how the pain of missing out on a medal at London 2012 is driving her on and how being Sky Academy Sports Scholar boosted her.If I had to sum myself up, Id say confident, smiley and resilient. Im Xena: Warrior Princess!Its just that I can be a bit of a diva when I want to be. My coach would suggest I like to be the centre of attention - or a show off!If there was karaoke on Id be the one dancing. I love music - from Deep Purple to Taylor Swift. It depends on what mood Im. I like to listen to gangsta rap before I race. I wont be the one with my head down and headphones on, Ill be the one singing trying to get everybody to sing along with me!What Ive learnt in over 10 years on the British team is that being resilient is a very important part of being an athlete. Halsall (second right) and current Scholar Siobhan-Marie OConnor (right) enjoyed relay glory at the Euros Its how you deal with the poor performances and not meeting targets and turning it into a positive. Not achieving hurts but its the analysing what you did right and what you did wrong. The quicker you understand that the better it will be for you to move forward in your career.That was the main thing that followed London 2012. That was hard and every athletes dream is to win an Olympic medal so it took time to deal with that. Now Im just excited to be going to another Olympics. The London Games was an amazing experience in front of a home crowd and watching everybody else in Team GB in all the other sports. But I missed a medal by 0.08 seconds in the 50m freestyle.So London was a bitter / sweet experience for me. My race I just didnt get right and I was very disappointed. I took two months off after the Olympics and reassessed everything.I got a new coach and a new programme and set myself new targets and became more focused on the 50 rather than the 100. I won a bronze at the World Championships in Barcelona so that was a nice year after London. Xena: Warrior Princess is probably pretty handy in the pool as well It was all about taking some of the pressure off and enjoying it again. I was delighted with that.Being on the Scholarship scheme in the build-up to the 2012 Games was amazing for me though. Even after London I came back to Sky Sports and did work experience.Im interested in the media and what happens behind the scenes so I learnt loads of things like how to build and develop a story. I met some of the presenters and looked at all these things thinking aboout what I could do after my swimming career.dddddddddddd.The link with Sky and getting access to that has been brilliant.Seeing my big face on the billboards was interesting! Luckily I had goggles on so you couldnt tell it was me so much!One of the other Scholars Liam Tancock trains in my squad and Ive got a great relationship with him. Its been amazing sharing experiences and talking about preparations and getting an insight to other athletes and what they go through. Thats all been fantastic. Fran secured five medals at the European Championships in London The last few weeks in the pool have been great. I did really well at the Europeans and I got through the Rio trials which is actually tougher than the Olympics.Its all about qualifying and I did! It was a good week. After January I put in plenty of work and hopefully that should stand me in good stead for this Olympic cycle.Its the 11th time Ive won at a British Championships and so its like a time trial rather than an actual race. I find it hard to get myself up for it and motivated.You think about a World Championship or Commonwealth Games when all the best swimmers are there and the atmosphere is electric. In a race like a 50m sprint that helps. You get the extra adrenaline and atmosphere builds.At a trials there are few people watching like its just mum and dad in the stands! I find that difficult. Im just so pleased I was able to put in a world class performance.Most of us didnt know we had made the Rio squad until a week after. For London it was announced there and then and there was a parade which was nice but it was good getting all emotional telling my parents Id made Rio on the phone. Fran and her trusty four-legged friend Blu Im very excited about the Olympics but I dont want to get too excited too soon! I want to build it up nicely. Now weve had the Euros it starts to get tense with a big block of work. I just want to make sure my skills are right and my fitness is good.Im not thinking about Olympic medals or anything like that. Its just about getting from A to B. Having said that, if I got on the podium there would be some Prosecco and Id be with my boyfriend, parents and my dog.My dog is a sproodle - a cross between an English Springer Spaniel and Poodle. Hes crazy as anything but hes so cute. He comes everywhere with me - he even came to Glasgow for the trials.He also goes into the changing rooms at the rugby with my boyfriend [St Helens rugby league captain Jon Wilkin]. Hell also have a haircut with me at the same time and I take him to meetings with solicitors - hes more of a rock star than me. WHATS COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS27 MAY: Lucy Garner, Boels Hills Classic29 MAY: Lucy Garner, Gooik10-16 JUNE: IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto, Italy23-26 JUNE: Lucy Garner, National Road Cycling Championships in Stockton-on-Tees Also See: About the Scholarship Meet the athletes Blogs Videos Galleries ' ' '