PARIS — No one had to tell Avery Skinner this match was going to go to five sets. She might be an Olympic rookie, but she knew what was coming: A raucous, 95% pro-Brazil crowd, a roster full of women who can crush the ball over the net at any time and a team that hadn’t lost a set all Olympics.
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“We’ve always gotta expect that it’s going to go to five, we knew the Brazil crowd was going to be crazy, they always bring it,” said Skinner. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight.”
In a retread of the Tokyo gold medal match, the U.S. women’s volleyball team topped Brazil 3-2, staving off a South American power looking for revenge. The U.S. will seek to defend its gold medal Sunday against Italy.
It was a wild, thriller full of long rallies, clutch points and newbies showing no fear.
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After the Americans’ first Olympic match in pool play, a 3-2 loss to China, coach Karch Kiraly changed his starting lineup, moving veteran outside hitters Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook to reserve roles in favor of Skinner and Kathryn Plummer, who are both playing in their first Olympics.
It’s more than paid off. Skinner and Plummer hit the ball so hard Kiraly likes to refer to them as his “slugger lineup.” Thursday against Brazil, Plummer led Team USA with 26 points (23 kills, two blocks, one ace) while Skinner chipped in 19 (15 kills, three blocks, one ace). Annie Drews added 18 points (17 kills, one ace).
“It’s so fun to see a couple of not-so-experienced outsides in Kathryn and Avery, who have not played in many high-level matches like this. It’s so fun to see them just take this game by the throat,” Kiraly said. “The other team can have everything right and all the sudden the ball’s going 40 feet that way because they hit so hard and it goes off the block. They’re giving us some fantastic firepower.”
Brazil hadn’t dropped a set coming into Thursday. But they looked all out of sorts in the first set against the U.S., as the Americans built a quick 6-1 lead. Brazil battled back but all those early points helped the U.S. as it hung on for a 25-23 set win.
Brazil made quick work of the second set, winning 25-18. Then it was the Americans turn again, as the U.S. jumped out to a 10-4 lead before putting Brazil away 25-15.
In the fourth set, the teams again traded points before a critical service error by American Chiaka Ogbogu gave Brazil an 11-10 edge. Brazil won 25-23 when the U.S. was hit with a net violation, a call Team USA unsuccessfully challenged. That set up a winner-take-all fifth set.
To Skinner, that’s when the U.S. felt most confident. The Americans knew Brazil had rolled through pool play and its quarterfinal; the U.S., on the other hand, had gone five sets twice already this tournament.
“We knew we’d been battled-tested,” Skinner said. “We had a lot of confidence at that point.”
In the fifth set, the teams again traded points until the U.S. started to pull away on a kill from Drews that gave the Americans a 12-8 lead. At 14-10, match point, a long rally looked to go the U.S.’s way until Brazil saved the point last second, pulling within three and forcing the Americans to keep playing. They won on — what else? — an attack from Plummer.
“I’m not stressed, but I don’t know that I’m enjoying it like if I were sitting at home,” Kiraly said of the long rallies that delighted the crowd. “I did say before the fifth set, could we just sit here and bask in the glow — tens of millions of volleyball players dream of playing in a fifth set for the chance to play for a gold medal. It just brings a smile to my face, gives me goosebumps.”
He held his arm up as proof.
To say the Americans are peaking at the right time would be an understatement. In June, things looked dire: They weren’t playing well in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), finishing seventh in the annual international competition. The starting lineup was under constant fluctuation, and two players got sent home with injuries.
But players kept reminding each other that Paris was the end of the road.
“Everything we’ve been through this summer has not been easy,” Skinner said. “I’m just proud of how we’ve continued to rise to the occasion. Of course we wanted to have a great finish at VNL, there was a little bit of defeat (mentally) after that. But we had a turning point. We had four days off and then we came back into the gym and said we’re going to work hard for what’s coming up.
“You’re seeing that now.”
Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media@Lindsay_Schnell
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