Australia have lost their third match in four outings at the Olympic men's volleyball qualifiers in Tokyo, but not before putting up an epic fight against world league champions France.
The Volleyroos, without captain and top points scorer Tom Edgar, suffered another close defeat on Wednesday in Tokyo, including a fourth set that lasted 86 points.
Australia went down 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 16-25, 44-42), holding set point on six occasions during the fourth set.
The loss adds to the pressure on Australia to qualify for the Olympics, with the Volleyroos needing to finish as the top Asian side to guarantee a ticket.
Edgar finally succumbed to an abdominal strain that had been dogging him since the start of the tournament.
But Paul Carroll proved an adequate replacement, ending with a game-high 34-points, one of the best individual performances of the event.
"The disappointing thing about this is that if we play this way against any team, then we will win," Carroll said.
"France are one of the best teams in the world. If we played like this against Iran or any team, we would have a chance to win.
"We are proud of our performance," Carroll said.
After the heartbreaking 5-set loss to Canada on Tuesday, Australia needed to bounce back for one of their most-challenging games of the week.
Australian coach Roberto Santilli said it was tough to play such a close match, but come away empty-handed.
"Sometimes, volleyball is beautiful because you don't know what will happen," Santilli said.
"My players put their hearts on this game. It's a pity we played this game and did not get any points.
"We have three games left and will try to win all three of them," Santilli said.
The Volleyroos have a very winnable match on Thursday against hosts Japan.
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