Bay Area Olympians: Stanford’s Zhang climbs golf leaderboard; SJ’s Averill helps US claim volleyball medal

Rose Zhang shot up the leaderboard on Friday to finish Day 3 of the Le Golf National in a tie for third. 

The former two-time national champion at Stanford shot 5 under par (67), making up significant ground after finishing in 12th place in the second round on Thursday. 

“There’s been ups-and-downs and not something that everyone sees,” Zhang told reporters on Friday. “I’ve realized it’s such a great privilege to be out here competing and representing your country and just playing on a weekly basis. So I’ve been learning a lot there and learning about myself.”

The Arcadia native is now 7 under for the tournament and is two strokes behind tournament leaders Morgane Metraux (Switzerland) and Lydia Ko (New Zealand). 

Japan’s Miyu Yamashita is tied with Zhang for third. 

Zhang briefly was in a tie for first place midway through the round, but dropped out after a double bogey on Hole 15. She eagled two of her five final holes, including one on the 18th that was set up by an excellent shot from 190 yards out to get her back to the Top 3. 

“I had 191 (yards) to the pin,” Zhang told the Golf Channel after Friday’s round. “It was honestly quite a heft six iron but the wind was helping me and I just thought, ‘OK let’s just hit it on the left towards that 18 building and see where it goes from there.’”

Zhang will be looking to medal in her first Olympic games. 

U.S. women’s basketball rolls to gold medal game 

The U.S. women’s basketball team made it look easy.

Team USA never trailed in its 85-64 trouncing of Australia in the semifinals and advanced to the gold medal game for the eighth straight Olympics. 

“I’m so proud of us,” U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve told the Associated Press. “You know, the evolution that we’ve made as a team. And I’m excited that we’ve got … to the last stand, if you will, in this campaign. (Now) see if we can get the gold.”

Breanna Stewart had 16 points and six rebounds to lead Team USA. Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young had 14 points. 

Hayward native Chelsea Gray was an efficient 2 for 4 from the field, and totaled five points, three rebounds and five assists. Walnut Creek’s Sabrina Ionescu had eight points and was 2 for 5 from beyond the arc. 

Former Stanford forward Alana Smith chipped in seven points and seven rebounds for Australia. 

Friday’s win was the U.S. women’s basketball team’s 60th straight Olympic victory. 

“The streak is crazy. I mean, they just told me when I was doing TV that it was, like, before I was born that it kind of started, which is wild,” Stewart told the AP. “It just goes to show those that have really paved the way and to create USA Basketball and what it is now. Tons of appreciation for that and knowing that when you represent this jersey and wear USA across your chest the standard is high and there really is nothing higher.”

Team USA will play France or Belgium in the gold medal game on Sunday. 

Men’s volleyball earns bronze

Branham High graduate Taylor Averill helped lead the U.S. men’s volleyball team to the bronze medal with an eight-point, one-block performance against Italy. 

The U.S. easily defeated the Italians 3-0 to earn its sixth men’s volleyball medal. The match was razor-close as the U.S. won each of the three sets by just two points. 

“I’m really proud of them, it’s taken a lot of time,” U.S. coach John Speraw told ESPN. “Time builds trust, and there’s a lot of trust in one another to go out there and perform in these moments.”

Outside hitter Aaron Russell led the U.S. with 15 points while tallying three blocks and two digs. Stanford alum Erik Shoji had 12 digs and five receptions playing libero. 

The U.S. didn’t come close to reaching the podium in the last Olympic games, finishing 10th in Tokyo. But Speraw said he was happy the team stuck together and got better the last few years. 

“They went out and they played for their families, they played for each other,” Speraw told ESPN. “I think the amount of time that they’ve spent together over the years is meaningful for all of us.”

CJ Nickolas falls short of podium finish

Despite a strong start to the final day of bouts, Brentwood’s CJ Nickolas fell just short of making the podium as he lost to Simone Alessio 2-0 in the bronze medal final.

Nickolas defeated Refugee Olympic Team member Farzad Mansouri (2-0) in the Round of 16 and Burkina Faso’s Faysal Sawadogo (2-0) in the quarterfinal to reach the final four. 

But Nickolas met his match in the semifinal, losing to Tunisia’s Firas Katoussi 2-0. 

In the bronze medal bout, Nickolas got off to an explosive first-round start, knocking down Alessio three times. But penalties cost him the round and Alessio won on superiority.

In the decisive second round, Nickolas looked gassed and Alessio landed a body shot to go up 2-0. From there, the Italian defended and slipped Nickolas’ kicks to finish out the bout and win bronze. 

U.S. men’s water polo loses to Croatia in semifinals

The U.S. men’s water polo team’s quest for a gold medal was stopped short on Friday with a 10-6 loss to Serbia in the semifinals.

Serbia took a 6-4 lead at halftime and didn’t let the Americans back into the match. The U.S. was down just two goals going into the fourth period, but Serbia outscored the U.S. 3-1 to advance to the gold medal match where it will face Croatia. 

Stanford alum Ben Hallock scored a goal. Former Cal standout Adrian Weinberg had 15 saves on 25 shots.

The U.S. will play Hungary for third place on Sunday.