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.Darren ODay Braves Jersey . 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From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie.LOS ANGELES --?Jared Goff?was a healthy scratch for the regular-season opener, but through hard work, he emerged as the No. 2 quarterback for the Rams behind Case Keenum.On Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, the No. 1 overall pick from this years draft made his NFL debut.While it wasnt what Rams fans would have liked, with Los Angeles losing a 10-point lead in the final five minutes and falling 14-10 to Miami, coach Jeff Fisher said the rookie ably handled the mechanics of the game.He did a really good job, Fisher said. No delay of games. He was in complete control in the huddle. He did a nice job on the line of scrimmage. I was disappointed in the outcome of the game, but you could see the light -- theres light there for him.So well continue to allow him to get ready and continue to progress.Goff finished 17-of-31 for 134 yards with zero touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He was sacked once and finished with a 65.8 passer rating.Because of the unusually wet weather at Los Angeles Memorial Stadium, Goff said the Rams played things close to the vest offensively. Goff attempted just five passes of 10 or more yards, failing to complete any of them.Goff said getting in and out of the huddle and not having any delay of games was a positive, but something he would like to improve on is to be cleaner on his reads when the Rams hit the road to face the New Orleans Saints next week.I dont expect us to do anything crazy next week, Goff said. Well do what we do. Of course we had shots in the plan and stuff that we wanted to do. I was really happy with the playcalling and felt very comfortable out there.ddddddddddddTight end Lance Kendricks said one thing that surprised him was Goffs ability to create plays outside the pocket. A handful of times Goff escaped the pass rush and either found receivers downfield or ran for extra yards.I honestly didnt realize that hes able to get around like he does, Kendricks said. I was surprised that he got out of the pocket a couple times. So thats something we can work on, him being able to scramble and us making plays when he scrambles.Goff said he was nervous early on but got comfortable after the first series. He also looked to Keenum for assistance during the game.Case was great, Goff said. I told him before the game that Im going to need to lean on you. And he gave me good information when I came over there, which helped me out. He told me what the pressures were that they were bringing. He was really helpful.Fisher said the Rams didnt eliminate anything from the playbook with Goff making his first start but that Los Angeles was limited more by Miamis aggressive defense.I was really proud of him, Fisher said. Its hard to praise any one of your players in a loss like this, but when all eyes were on our quarterback, I thought he handled this game pretty well.Im looking forward to him having another real week of preparation. What greater challenge can you imagine being in his shoes than going down and competing against Drew Brees??Thats a huge challenge for a young quarterback. ' ' '