USA Men’s Volleyball vs. Italy: Watch Live Stream Online, Preview For Olympic 2012 Matchup

By Anthony Riccobono | August 08 2012 9:48 AM

The men's volleyball quarterfinal is scheduled for Wednesday in London. The U.S. looks to continue its quest for a gold medal as they take on Italy.

Reuters

U.S. players celebrate winning their men's Group B volleyball match against Germany at the London 2012 Olympic Games at Earls Court

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Team USA is set to hit the court at 11 a.m. ET. The event won't be on tape delay and is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC. If you can't get to a television, you can still watch a free live stream of the match online by clicking here.

The Americans are expected to advance and reach the semifinals. According to Bovada, the online betting Web site, they are 1.5-point favorites.

Brazil is the favorite to take home the gold for the entire indoor volleyball tournament. Their odds are set at 2/1, with the United States at 3/1. USA upset Brazil in a preliminary round matchup.

The U.S. team's only loss in the preliminary round came to Russia, as they fell 3-2. The United States went 4-1 in group play, including three shutouts.

In Beijing in 2008, the U.S. took home the gold. They arethe best team coming out of their pool in the 2012 Olympics with 13 points.

Italy went 3-2 in group play and is ranked No. 6 in the world. While the Americans are expected to come out on top, it won't be an easy task.

"Italy has an aggressive serve," U.S. Head Coach Alan Knipe said, according to the Deseret News. "They have good servers that can put pressure on us. We have seen them a few times this year and the guys have a good reference point. They (Italy) will look at our videos and look at what weaknesses they can exploit and we will do the same."

The semifinals will be held on Friday and the gold medal match is scheduled for the last day of the 2012 Olympics, Aug. 12.