Serbia’s Silvija Popovic and her teammates celebrate a win after women’s semifinal volleyball match against the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.
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The tears were immediate and visible and hard-earned, and though the US women’s volleyball team has one more match to play, though it may earn a third straight Olympic medal, the tears in the moment showed that wasn’t the goal.
In a shocking upset Thursday, the top-ranked USA team lost in five sets to Serbia – 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13 – in Serbia’s first-ever Olympic semifinal in the sport.
It took contributions from each woman on the US 12-player roster to get back into the match.
The favored gymnastics and rowing teams won while No. 1 women’s water polo plays for a gold medal Friday. He did not detail the injury, but reporters saw her pressing an ice pack to her left knee.
“We left everything out there”, USA’s Jordan Larson said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling”, Rasic said. Brazil was a force and had the crowd on its side, and many felt the path to a gold opened up for the USA when they were eliminated. “USA!” The loss was a disappointment to a US team that entered the Olympics ranked first in the world, that blew through its first six matches undefeated. She did not return to the match and her status remains unclear for Saturday’s bronze medal game.
Then came Serbia, which the USA beat in four sets during group play. “We adjusted our lineup, we adjusted it again, we adjusted it again”. The top-ranked Americans, playing without Foluke Akinradewo, who was injured early in the match, rallied to win the fourth set 25-16 and force a winner-take-all fifth set.
The Americans then took a timeout leading 11-10, aiming to regroup for one final push.
“Right now, this loss is deeply disappointing”, said head coach Karch Kiraly after the match.
“It’s not going to happen this month”, Kiraly said.
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