Team USA women’s volleyball advances to Olympics semifinal

Haleigh Washington, center, and Jordyn Poulter, right, of the United States, celebrate at the end of a women’s volleyball match between Team USA and Poland at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

PARIS— The reigning Olympic champion U.S. women’s volleyball team posted a straight-set victory against Poland on Tuesday night at the Paris Olympics.

The Americans led throughout while taking the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-14. They fell behind 5-0 and 7-1 in the third set before rallying to close it out, 25-20.

Next up is a semifinal date Thursday with powerhouse Brazil, which swept the Dominican Republic earlier in the day. It’s a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final.

Turkey eliminated China with a 3-2 victory. It moved on to a matchup with Italy, which beat Serbia 3-0 in the final match of the day.

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Team USA coach Karch Kiraly said he was thrilled to get his players off their feet sooner — and not have to play any extra sets, especially for setter Jordyn Poulter as she continues to regain her form in match play after coming back from a devastating left knee injury in December 2022 that required surgery.

“To be able to chip away and get back and tie it up at 13-all and get out with 3-0 instead of 17-15 in the fifth, which happens so often, that’s really big, especially for somebody like Jordyn Poulter who’s on a really good recovery,” Kiraly said. “But to have less load here and more recovery before we play a really big Brazil team was big.”

Kiraly made a lineup change after the team’s five-set defeat to China on July 29 to open group stage play, moving veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook to reserve roles and bringing in Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer. The Americans bounced back to beat Serbia two days later.

The new starting six are beginning to click.

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“The first time we ever played with this starting lineup was against Serbia, so now we’ve got three matches,” Kiraly said. “Most other teams have been playing for years with the same (lineup). We now have three matches, so things are coming together.”

Andrea Drews had 13 points, while Plummer and Skinner contributed 12 apiece. Plummer credited the Americans for improving their service pressure and four-time Olympian Larson’s boost off the bench to get them back in it.

“We started out the third set very slow, we tend to do that even when we have a 2-0 lead in the match,” she said. “We got out of that first rotation and then I think we just got strings of points together, had a couple of big momentum swings with some big blocks, some big serves. … The third set was a testament to what happens when we stay together and connected.”