"Sydney was kind of a mental breakdown of a team that actually had more physicality than this team," said Lloy Ball, a three-time Olympian and the U.S. captain.

"If you break it down player by player we were a much stronger team in Sydney.

"But this team has that collective heart. Even though we had two disappointing losses here to end, I am extremely proud of the way this team played."

The Russian team, with their seven-footers, was too tall and too tough.

"Still, a month ago, if you said we'd be playing for a medal, I'd have taken it in a New York minute," Ball said.

In the clash of former Cold War rivals at the appropriately named Peace and Friendship Stadium, Team USA had its chances in the first two games — serving for the second twice — but lost all the critical points.

Hawai'i's Clay Stanley led Team USA again, with 10 kills and two aces. Stanley might have been the most comfortable American in Greece; he also plays for the Panathanikos club team in the Greek pro league.

Trailing 18-16 in the first game, Stanley kick-started a 5-1 American run with a kill. Russia tied the score at 21 after a service error by Ball and an illegal contact call on the Americans that forced a USA timeout.

Tom Hoff's kill put the Americans ahead, 22-21, but they would not score again.

Neither team led by more than two points in Game 2. Trailing 22-21, the United States put together a 3-1 run to get to game point. Alexander Kosarev posted a kill to tie the score at 24-all, but Ryan Millar gave the Americans another game point with a kill.

Russia used a kill, block and a disputed illegal contact call to score the final three points and, effectively, end the match.

"We're certainly disappointed that we're not going to leave here with a medal," Team USA coach Doug Beal said.

"Russia played a wonderful match today and they recovered much better than we did from the semifinal loss."

Brazil, which had beaten the United States in the semifinals, went on to defeat Italy, 25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22, in the gold-medal match.