Villepinte, France — Win or go home.

That’s the scenario Team USA women’s sitting volleyball faced ahead of its clash with Italy on Tuesday. Both teams entered the contest at 1-1 in group play with each defeating France and losing to China. The winner would vault to 2-1 and move on to the semifinal round, the loser’s quest for a medal would end.

The U.S. elevated its game with medal hopes on the line, knocking off Italy in straight sets 25-21, 25-23, 25-15.

“It feels really good,” remarked Heather Erickson, who finished with 19 points for Team USA. “Just a marker we had to hit, we’re glad we got through it, it wasn’t always pretty, but the team stayed together and ultimately did the goal and put us in contention to have the overall goal, being in the gold medal match again.”

“It feels so good,” exclaimed Bethany Zummo, Team USA libero. “It’s so relieving, every single game we just have to take one at a time, we can’t get ahead of ourselves thinking about all the competition that we have throughout this whole time, we just have to come in and stay focused and stay together as a team, stay on our side of the court.”

For the majority of the first set, the U.S. held a multi-point lead. Italy came out on fire, scoring five of the first six points. But Team USA bounced back quickly, scoring five of the next six to knot the set at six apiece. From there, the U.S. slowly yet surely distanced itself. Italy went on multiple mini runs to stay within striking distance, but never tied it after it was 8-8. Team USA took the first set 25-21.

The second set was tight-knit over all 48 rallies that were played. Neither side held a lead larger than three points. But, one held a three-point lead eying an even match. Italy led the U.S. 20-17 late in the set. Team USA needed to go on a run to put a stranglehold on the match. And a run it went on. The U.S. took five straight points to snatch a 22-20 lead. From there, the two sides alternated points for the rest of the set, resulting in a 25-23 Team USA victory.

Down 2-0, it was going to take a Herculean effort for Italy to rally for a victory. The U.S. put any thought of a comeback to bed rather quickly. It was close early- Team USA held a 4-3 lead in the third set before the rally caps came on. A 10-1 run staked the U.S. to a 14-4 lead that proved to be more than enough. The closest Italy came the rest of the way was eight points, setting the stage for a comfortable final set victory. The U.S. finished off Italy 25-15 in the set, 3-0 in the match.

The group play stage has come and gone for Team USA. Now, and the same is true for the rest of the field, it’s two wins away from gold. The U.S. plays in the semifinals on Thursday against Brazil at 6 PM Paris Time. Team USA will also play on Saturday no matter what happens. The only question is, is it the gold or bronze medal match?

“We keep our preparation going consistent,” explained Erickson. “We do acknowledge that different teams are going to give different things to us, seeing who we’re going to play and kind of making the game plan so we’re better but not trying to overly change everything because when we play well, we play well against everybody.”

“We come into every single game with the same focus,” said Zummo. “Stay present, and that’s what we have to do to continue to win, to continue to play at our best, we just keep going.”