5 alive: USA women grind to Paris Olympics volleyball victory over Serbia

PARIS — There is no rule that USA Volleyball teams have to go five in these Olympics.

But …

Monday, the USA women lost the first two sets to China and won the next two before losing in five.

Tuesday, the USA men went up 2-0 on Germany and had to hold on for a five-set victory.

And then Wednesday, the USA women came out and completely overpowered Serbia in the first two sets. A sweep? No way, because ultimately the Americans had to come away with a 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 14-25, 17-15 victory.

“It was a fun puzzle to solve. Things were going pretty easily in the first two, but then the real work starts when Serbia starts playing the way they’re capable of playing,” USA coach Karch Kiraly said. “That’s a really, really good team across the net with one of the world’s best players.”

That’s for sure, because left-handed opposite Tijana Boskovic had 27 kills, two blocks, two aces and seven digs. But more on her later.

The USA was up 14-11 when Serbia sided out. It was 14-13 on Maja Aleksic’s block of Kathryn Plummer. And the lead was squandered when the Americans completely botched the next possession.

“We can’t even get it over the net,” Kiraly said, shaking his head. “It was 13-year-old club volleyball at 14-13. And that’s killer because we have Annie (Drews), we have Plum, what we have to do is put the ball 20 feet in the air and set Plum on the left or Annie on the right and we could neither.

“Those are the tough moments of coaching, when everybody knows what to do but it’s the Olympics and it’s not always easy to do. We had to do it the really hard way.”

It was, indeed, a 14-14 gut check, because the USA, had it lost the match, most likely was not going to get out of pool play into the quarterfinals.

“Those are the big moments and that’s what the Olympic Games are all about,” USA middle Haleigh Washington said. “How do you respond in the big moments. At one point I was at the net and thought that this is going to who can play the cleanest volleyball the longest.”

Drews got a kill to give the USA a 15-14 lead, but Boskovic got her last kill of the match.

The Americans went up 16-15 on another kill by Drews and then survived a gritty final point that included sparkling defense by teams, including a big dig by setter Jordyn Poulter, before Serbia’s Aleksandra Uzelac hit out of bounds to end it.

“And here we are, lucky in some ways to win that,” Kiraly said.

Drews led the USA with 15 kills — five in the fifth set — four digs and a block.

“There are so many nuances to pool play with this format and you never know what’s going to happen and it’s different than ever before,” Drews said. “But obviously getting two wins puts you in a solid position. But I think even more than advancing, there’s an emotional piece, telling ourselves that we’re capable of pulling out a big match. That’s something we haven’t done much as we would like to this Olympic cycle, so emotionally it was a good night to up our belief.”

The team has a big break before finishing pool play Sunday against France, an almost sure victory.

“Hopefully we can notch a win against France and be in a reasonable spot,” Kiraly said. “W’s here don’t hurt our cause.”

Middle Chiaka Ogbogu was huge, coming up with eight blocks and six kills. And first-time Olympian Avery Skinner not only had 11 kills and two blocks, but came up big on Boskovic time after time by getting touches on her attacks. She also had five digs. 

“Every bone in (Skinner’s) body is athletic and capable and it’s really special when you watch her just trust her gut,” Drews said. 

“Avery has stepped up so much in this tournament it’s been an honor watching her play,” said Washington, who had five kills, four blocks and an ace herself.

Setter Jordyn Poulter had a block, an ace and eight digs, and libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 11 digs — some spectacular in the fifth — and made some strong out-of-system sets.

“We knew how important this match was in terms of points to advance to the next stage,” Ogbogu said. “I’m just proud of how we buckled down and stayed gritty towards the end.”

Not only did Boskovic get hers, Uzelac had 12 kills, a block and an ace, Katerina Lazovic had 10 kills a block and an ace, Aleksic finished with five kills and six blocks, and Jovana Stevanovic had six kills and three blocks.

“Two really, really great teams. I mean, Olympic champion and world champion, we could expect it to be intense like this,” Aleksic said. “We really enjoyed and the spectators enjoyed it, I could hear that. The USA team, they fought really, really really good. I hope we will meet again.”

Some of them will, no matter what.

The USA’s Plummer, who is 6-foot-6, and 6-8 middle Dana Rettke are joining 6-4 Boskovic’s and 6-3 Stevanovic’s club team, Dynavit Explosion in Istanbul, next season.

“We’ll have a pretty big front row,” Plummer understated.

Serbia, which opened by beating France, finishes pool play Sunday against China.

Micha Hancock responds to the call

The USA played without setter Lauren Carlini, injured either during or since the USA’s opening five-set loss to China on Monday. It forced Kiraly to tell his official alternate, Micha Hancock, she was replacing her. And with the USA continuing to do its double-sub — the backup setter for Drews and Thompson for Poulter — Hancock was thrown right into the mix. Of course, she was on the roster in Tokyo and filled in for Poulter when she sprained her ankle.

“Every single person contributed, but I want to give special props to Micha,” Kiraly said. “Until yesterday at 2 o’clock she is thinking, ‘I’m here to be ready and back up but I’m not gonna be wearing a uniform. And 27 hours later she’s subbing in and playing for us in each of those five sets. So it’s a huge credit to her. 

“She has stayed engaged in a difficult role. It’s really hard to stay engaged and present when you have so little hope of actually wearing a uniform. But she’s contributing in so many ways and she made us better tonight. She was ready for it and lots of people might not have been.”

Kiraly said even Carlini wasn’t sure when she got hurt and “we don’t know how long it will last. She would have been unable to enter the game today.”

Poland, Japan win in men’s Olympic volleyball

Poland (2-0) came away with a five-set Pool B win over Brazil (0-2) on Wednesday to start the day and then in Pool B, the same as the USA, Japan (1-1) beat Argentina (0-2) in four.

Poland clinched its spot in the quarterfinals with its 22-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12 victory. Wilfredo Leon, celebrating his 31st birthday, led with 21 kills, two blocks and three aces and a team-high eight digs.

“To come and play at this time, it isn’t so easy,” Leon noted of the 9 a.m. start, “but we made a great comeback for this match. It was difficult for both teams.”

Jakub Kochanowski had 11 kills, two blocks and two aces, Bartosz Kurek had eight kills, a block and two aces, and Kamil Semeniuk had 10 kills and and ace. Mateusz Bienek added six kills, a block and three aces and Norbert Huber had two kills, two blocks and three aces.

Poland finishes pool play against Italy, while Brazil faces Egypt. Brazil will certainly beat Egypt and then has to hope for the best to get into the quarterfinals.

Adriano Fernandes had 16 kills and two blocks for Brazil and Ricard Lucarelli had 16 kills, a block and an ace. Darlan Ferreira had a team-best 17 kills, Yoandy Leal had seven kills, a block and an ace, and Lucas Saatkamp had six kills and two blocks.

“It was an incredible match,” said Brazil’s Bruno Mossa. “What else can I say? We played a really high level against a really great team, one of the best teams in the world. 

“I’m proud of the fight. We could have played better in the fourth set, and lost a lot of counter-attacks. We now have to rest and focus on our next match against Egypt.”

Japan bounced back from its first-match loss to Germany with a 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23 victory over Argentina, which lost to the USA in the first match. Yuji Nishida led with 16 kills and five aces. Ran Takahashi had nine kills, two blocks and three aces. Taishi Onodera added 11 kills and a block and Uuki Ishikawa had 10 kills and a block.

Argentina’s Facundo Conte had 17 kills, a block and an ace. Bruno Lima had 14 kills, a block and an ace. 

“We are almost out, I want to cry,” Argentina’s Loser Agustin said. “We had high expectations and the first game we played was bad. Today was a good match but they played much better.

“It’s so difficult to speak now. We gave everything we have, but it wasn’t enough.”

***

In the last match Wednesday, the Poland (1-0) women played Kenya (0-2) in Pool B in a near-certain Poland victory.

Thursday’s Paris Olympics volleyball schedule

Both USA teams have the day off. There are four matches, all women’s. The times are local and Paris is six hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone and nine ahead of Pacific:

9 a.m. — Türkiye (1-0) vs. Dominican Republic (0-1), Pool C
1 p.m. — Brazil (1-0) vs. Japan (0-1), Pool B
5 p.m. — Italy (1-0) vs Netherlands (0-1), Pool C
9 p.m. — France (0-1) vs. China (1-0), Pool A 

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