“A day after the US women’s volleyball team fell in the semifinals in Rio, the men’s team went up against Italy with a spot in the final on the line”.
Advertisement
After Kiraly put his arm around her in a comforting gesture, Dietzen took a deep breath and continued after a few seconds: “Obviously we wanted to turn this around for her and everybody that’s a part of this program”, she said. However, the US also had previously topped Serbia. We’re going to process that some. “And now we have the next 48 hours to do so”. A huge Akinradewo block then gave the USA a 23-19 lead, and they were able to hang on and win the set 25-20. “We signed up to do difficult things with United States of America, and we’re going to come back harder the next 48 hours to fight for the bronze medal”.
Team USA, having been on the doorstep at gold with silver-medal finishes in the last two Olympic Games and in 1984, will regroup in an effort to win the bronze on Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) against the loser of the second semifinal between Netherlands and China.
“It’s fantastic. There’s no words to describe really this feeling”, Serbia’s Tijana Malesevic said. We gave everything what we could, what we know, like everything – like each player, staff, coaches.
USA Volleyball reacts to stunning loss to Serbia in semifinal.
“It was a hard game, we had more luck that them today”, said Serbian middle blocker Milena Rasic. “And then Serbia made some great plays down the stretch, and they earned that victory”.
Advertisement
When Serbia’s final spike couldn’t be controlled by the USA, with the ball sailing out of bounds, the Serbians erupted. She grew up in North Avondale and has been working for years to make her first Olympics.
