Resilient, improving USA women play Italy for Olympics volleyball gold

PARIS — Sunday’s Olympics women’s volleyball gold-medal match will cap both a 15-day-long tournament and a tremendous run for the USA women.

This team, held together at times the past three months by kinesiology tape, ice bags and intestinal fortitude, is on the unlikely cusp of winning it all.

The Americans (4-1) play Italy (5-0) at 1 p.m. local (7 a.m. Eastern, 4 a.m. Pacific) Sunday as both a squad finally hitting on all cylinders but facing an opponent to which it lost twice in the span of a week in June.

Seemingly every USA player was injured at one time or another, some upon returning from their pro seasons, some as the summer progressed through Volleyball Nations League, and some here.

Yet, five matches later, here they are.

I was in the USA gym in Anaheim the second week of May. Annie Drews, the lefty opposite who has led the team in scoring here, spent most of the time on an exercise bike. The other opposite, Jordan Thompson, scrimmaged but was recovering from an injury.

The setter, Jordyn Poulter, appeared well on the way to being full strength but she was still, in essence, returning from total reconstructive knee surgery a year and a half earlier. She hadn’t played in a match since the operation.

The veteran leader of the team, outside Jordan Larson, made the decision not to play pro volleyball the past year. Instead, she trained while working as an assistant coach at Nebraska and, when the college season ended, headed to Anaheim to train for the sole purpose of making the team. It paid off. 

And few of the players, fortunate enough to have played long into their pro seasons, had not even arrived in Anaheim, including Kathryn Plummer, who would become a first-time Olympian, veteran outside Kelsey Robinson Cook and middles Haleigh Washington and Dana Rettke.

Avery Skinner was there, looked great — the coolest thing was watching her scrimmage at the highest level with her younger sister, Madi — but we didn’t know if Avery would make the roster.

The competition in the gym was top-notch, but the team was leaving the next week for VNL.

The VNL results — and rosters — were mixed. 

The first week in Rio, the USA went 2-2. In the second round, in Arlington, they went 2-2 again, but lost to Poland and Turkiye. The third week, in Fukuoka, Japan, saw the Americans go 3-1, but the lone loss: To Italy.

One week later, in the VNL quarterfinals in Bangkok, Italy swept the USA.

First the pool-play match.

Italy won 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21. Drews led with 13 kills and Thompson had 11. Washington had three kills, three blocks and an ace, Robinson Cook had six kills and an ace, middle Chiaka Ogbogu had seven kills, and Skinner had six. The USA had no answer to opposite Paola Egonu, who had 21 kills, a block and an ace. Middle Anna Danesi had nine kills, three blocks and an ace, outside Myriam Sylla had 10 kills, a block and two aces, and middle Sarah Fahr had eight kills, four blocks and an ace. 

Then in the quarterfinals, Italy won 25-21, 25-21, 25-23. Skinner led the USA with 10 kills and an ace, Washington had six kills and three blocks, Thompson had eight kills and Rettke had five kills, a block and an ace. Again, Egonu got hers, this time with 17 kills, two blocks and an ace. Sylla had nine kills and a block and Fahr had five kills and four blocks.

The Italy ties run deep for the Americans. Washington, Rettke, Robinson Cook, Plummer, Skinner and alternate Micha Hancock all played pro in Italy last season and Poulter was hurt while playing in Italy. And among the others, setter Lauren Carlini, Ogbogu, Thompson, Drews and Larson all played in Italy at some point in their careers.

In this tournament, the USA has ridden quite the roller coaster. Coach Karch Kiraly, who has displayed an inordinant amount of patience throughout and made all the right moves, joked that he pretty much expects every match to go 17-15 in the fifth.

And with good reason.

Through VNL and even here, Kiraly and staff were searching for lineups and combinations that would work.

The Americans opened with a five-set loss to China 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 15-13 in which things could not have seemed worse in the first two sets. But that was when the switch was made, substituting Plummer and Skinner for Larson and Robinson Cook. No doubt the senior citizens of this team would rather start and play, but they’ve been ready when called upon, to serve, steady the defense, or play in the front row when asked. It’s a tough job, being a reserve after starring for your entire career. They have handled it with aplomb.

The Olympics were possibly on the brink in the next match, which the USA won the hard way against Serbia 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 14-25, 17-15. Yeah, they were that close to going 0-2 and going home after pool play. 

And it was before that match that setter Lauren Carlini, dealing with an injured back, was taken off the roster and replaced by Micha Hancock. Hancock played two matches before Carlini returned.

Even against lowly France, which only got in because it is the host country, the USA grinded to a 29-27, 29-27, 25-20 victory.

Finally, in the quarterfinals against Poland, it all came together in a 25-22, 25-14, 25-20 victory.

Then Thursday, the USA pulled off a  25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11 victory over Brazil, rallying from an early fifth-set deficit. 

Italy later swept Türkiye behind 21 kills from Egonu, who had two aces and a block.

It has not been a boring two weeks. And Sunday’s final all adds up to what should be a fitting end to the Paris Olympics volleyball.