Droos and Larson helped the United States win the semifinals and will continue to fight for their first Olympic gold medal in their history. The U.S. women's volleyball team defeated the Serbian women's volleyball team 3:0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-23) in the semifinals that ended today to advance to the final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. They will play against the Brazilian women's volleyball team this Sunday.
The United States and Serbia met in the semi-finals of the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Serbia defeated the United States 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13) to win the silver medal and the United States to win the bronze medal.
Since 2008, the U.S. women's volleyball team has played in the semifinals for the fourth consecutive time, and three of them have successfully advanced to the finals. In 11 Olympic appearances, they won three silver and two bronze medals, but failed to win a single gold medal.
The performances of Dros and Larson helped the U.S. win. Receiving Drus scored 17 points on 12 attacks, 2 blocks and 3 Aces, captain Larsson scored 15 points in this game, which took on more offense than before, and Serbia's firepower point Boskovic scored a game-high 19 points with 16 attacks and 3 blocks.
Anne Drus said: "During the five-year Olympic cycle, we were all pursuing this gold medal, focusing all our attention on it, and every decision we made was affected by it, and it also determined what we wanted to be. It was a surprise to get to this point, but I knew we had the ability. ”
In the first set, Boskovic scored the first two points, but the U.S. scored five consecutive points from the front row offensive point, including a three-pointer from Bagg, giving the U.S. a 5-2 lead in the opening.
Boskovic used her third point to block the U.S. offense, but the U.S. attackers responded quickly with their own offense and excellent defense. Budci and Drus scored six points each to help the U.S. team beat the Serbian player led by Bosch to win the first set, and the latter also scored six points in this set.
The U.S. team maintained its own rhythm in the second inning and established a lead early in the game. Boskovic did not allow the situation to continue, launching a relentless attack on the net, helping the team keep up with the rhythm of the opponent.
As the team played well, the advantage of the American team continued to expand in the second half of the game, and Drus was at the forefront of the attack. The U.S. team won comfortably 25-15 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
In the third inning, due to the mistakes of the American team, the Serbian women's volleyball team successfully took the lead. But the U.S. women's volleyball second pass Port scored in several defenses in front of the net, allowing the U.S. team to win 16-13.
At the end of the inning, the U.S. team led 21-17, but Boskovic closed the gap to two points with an attack and a net block. Drus and Washington continued to weaken Serbia's defense with offense, with two front-row players taking the U.S. to match point, and as Larson crossed the line on the left flank, the U.S. swept 25-23.
Serbian receiver Boskovic said: "We are disappointed that we have not been able to play at the level we should have in the game, but regardless of whether we win or lose, we are all together. If we can get the bronze medal, it's still the end of victory for me, so we'll give it our all in the next game. ”
In another semi-final, the Brazilian women's volleyball team lost three straight sets and won three 25-16 victories over the South Korean women's volleyball team to advance to the final. Figare's performance helped the Brazilian women's volleyball team to stand in the Olympic final again, and they will attack the third Olympic gold medal.
The Brazilian women's volleyball team has already won two bronze medals and two gold medals at the Olympic Games. They won back-to-back gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and London 2012 before finishing fifth at their home games in Rio. The South Korean team reached the final four three times before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
The Brazilian women's volleyball team quickly established a lead at the beginning of the first set. In the innings, the main attacker of the South Korean women's volleyball team, Park Zhenya, repeatedly cleverly hoisted the ball to disrupt the Brazilian women's volleyball team's defensive formation, although Gabi's excellent defensive ability did not catch up with the small ball that fell on the side of the vice attack, and the Korean women's volleyball team chased the score to 16-12. But then kim hee-jin made another offensive mistake, and the South Korean women's volleyball team requested its first timeout.
After the suspension came back, Kim Hee-jin's state did not recover, and the South Korean women's volleyball team took a two-for-three replacement for Jeong Ji-yoon and Ahn Hye-jin, and Jeong Ji-yun scored directly on the first goal, and the score came to 18-13. With the South Korean team losing the challenge and Kim Soft-kyung exposing the strong attack was blocked, brazil won 9 inning points to win the first set 25-16.
At the beginning of the second set, the two sides alternated points to 7-7, the Brazilian vice attacked the fast ball, Rosa Maria blocked Jin Softjing's strong attack for the first time to open the two teams to 9-7, but then Jin Softjing changed his tactics and rushed into the hanging ball under the cover of the back of the vice attack to chase another point. In the middle of the game, the score between the two sides gradually opened, and after the double net blocked Kim Hee-jin's straight ball, the score of the two sides was 15-10, and the South Korean women's volleyball team replaced Kim Hee-jin with Lee So-young.
Kim Soft Kyung-ping pulled the ball open, then rotated to the back row to serve to destroy a Pass from Brazil, Lee So-young killed the ball, and the South Korean women's volleyball team chased the score to 15-12. Figarre self-deducted, Park Jung-ah hitter out of bounds, Brazil one teleportation probe, Rosa Maria after three, 17-14 Brazil two-for-three replacement captain Natalia and substitute two passes Roberta, Natalia attacked to score, 20-14 South Korea applied for a second timeout.
At the end of the inning, the South Korean vice-attacker's back ball mismatched hanging ball was blocked, Park Jung-ah hanging the ball out of bounds, with a fly one pass and then sent a point, the score has reached 23-14. Park Zhenya chased two points in a row with a large slash and a small slash that fell in the bottom corner, but Gabi's fourth position attack still brought the second set into the set point, holding eight innings, and the Brazilian women's volleyball team went to the next city 25-16.
In the third set, Brazil started 3-0, and Jin Softjing's strong attack helped the South Korean women's volleyball team to chase the score to 5-3. Figare tried to chase the Bottom Corner of the No. 1 position out of bounds, Park Jung-ah wiped his hand out of bounds, Gabi no. 4 down the ball, south Korean vice-attack back ball was blocked again, after Lee So-young fei a pass 10-5, the South Korean team requested a timeout.
Park Jung-ah played a cross-ball, Lee So-young exposed a strong attack was double-eyed, Gabi after three, 13-7 Kim Soft Kyung-ping pulled open to form a one-on-one, deducted a waistline ball score; 15-9 South Korean women's volleyball team two for three replaced by Ahn Hye-jin and Kim Hee-jin, Kim Soft-kyung adjusted the attack on the small slash and then scored another point.
Figare forced the ball, Kim Hee-jin was blocked, Brazil's momentum continued, and once again adopted the two-for-three tactic. Natalia played again, and after scoring a point on the attack, she blocked Jin Softjing's exposed attack, and Jin Softjing then changed her mind to face the double blocking net to create a thug out of bounds. At the end of the inning, the two sides exchanged mistakes, and Natalia struck an ace to bring the score to 23-12. Jin Xizhen made a mistake in serving, and the Brazilian women's volleyball team ushered in the match point; with nine match points in hand, Figare hammered the final word, and the Brazilian women's volleyball team won the Korean women's volleyball team 3:0.
The Tokyo Olympic women's volleyball final and bronze medal battle will be held on the 8th (this Sunday), the bronze medal match between Serbia and South Korea will be contested at 8:00 Beijing time, and the championship battle between the United States and Brazil will be played at 12:30.
It is worth mentioning that in the World League that ended at the end of June, the championship battle was also played between the two teams of the United States and Brazil, when the United States won the three consecutive championships with a 3:1 (26-28, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21) victory over the Brazilian women's volleyball team.
Partial source: FIVB official website