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Sports Seriously
PARIS – The United States men’s volleyball team has yet to lose in the Paris Olympics, and the reward is a date with the No. 1-ranked team in the world.
Monday night’s 26-24, 28-30, 25-19, 25-19 quarterfinal victory over Brazil moved the U.S. – now 4-0 in these Games – into a Wednesday semifinal against Poland, which is atop the sport’s current rankings. Italy (No. 2) and France (No. 5) meet in Wednesday’s other semifinal after each getting five-set wins Monday.
The U.S. was No. 4 before Monday’s match and Brazil was No. 7, though there wasn’t much difference between the two – at least for a while.
The match took more than two hours. The Brazilians blew a five-point lead to lose the first set. Then the U.S. team blew a six-point lead to cough up the second after leading it 21-16 and having two set points.
As has been the case throughout this Olympics, though, the experienced U.S. team was able to settle down and stabilize when it mattered most, jumping ahead in the third set (and making that lead hold up) before gradually pulling away in the latter stages of the fourth to quiet a noisy crowd that was largely in Brazil’s corner.
The result continued what has been a nice rebound Games for a U.S. team that bowed out in the preliminary round in Tokyo. This time, the Americans would have to lose their next two matches to miss out on a medal.
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