Golden goal comes up a little short
Stanford’s Akinradewo injured, forced to watch loss from the sidelines
Foluke Akinradewo postponed her journey to orthopedic medicine because she was tired of finishing second on the volleyball court.
It happened four years ago in London when the U.S. women’s indoor volleyball team fell to Brazil in the Olympic gold-medal game. It had happened at Stanford when Akinradewo’s teams were runners-up in the NCAA tournament from 2006-08.
But what happened Thursday at Maracanazinho Arena reminded everyone that the Olympic gods have a cruel streak.
Akinradewo, 28, suffered an apparent left knee injury and had to leave the match in the second set as Serbia stunned the top-ranked Americans 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13 in the semifinals of the Rio Games.
Looking to win its first Olympic title in history, the favored United States now must rebound Saturday in the third-place game after committing 18 service errors and other mental mistakes in an episodic five-set match. The Americans will play the Netherlands for bronze. Serbia faces China for gold.
Akinradewo could do nothing but root for teammates while standing on the sideline without the help of crutches af- ter her departure. A USA Volleyball spokesman said in an email that team officials don’t know whether the 6-foot-3 middle blocker will be available Saturday. The spokesman also declined to provide any information about the injury that occurred after Akinradewo had taken over the game.
“We were a little distracted there for a second because we care so much for her,” captain Christa Dietzen told reporters. “Obviously, we wanted to turn this around, for her, for
everybody that’s part of this program. We have a chance in the next 48 hours to do so.”
Third place is not the game the United States worked the past four years to play. The women re-dedicated themselves to winning nothing but gold after losing in the past two Olympic finals to Brazil. Akinradewo had planned to enter medical school after London but instead returned for one more attempt at winning the gold medal.
The decision seemed worth it as coach Karch Kiraly built a powerhouse after taking over the program. The women won the 2014 world championship and then five more tournaments in the past two years. Their record since then is an impressive 71-10.
But the team will leave Rio feeling disappointed. They joined the U.S. soccer squad as one of the topranked American women’s teams to fall short of the gold medal. The favored gymnastics and rowing teams won while No. 1 women’s water polo plays for a gold medal Friday. The American basketball team also is expected to finish first.
It looked as if the volleyball players were on the same trajectory when nemesis Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Then came the injury to their star middle blocker. Akinradewo, who was 5-for-7 hitting and added three blocks, didn’t talk to reporters afterward.
The Americans (7-1) lost their momentum when Akinradewo left with Serbia leading 8-5. The void was greater than the Americans could handle because Akinradewo is the tournament’s leading hitter.
Without her long arms putting up a solid wall in the middle, Brankica Mihajlovic (17 kills, five blocks) and Tijana Boskovic (18 kills) took over to give the sixth-ranked Serbians a commanding 2-1 lead.
Kiraly, a legendary indoor and beach player in his day, tried to counter Serbia’s every move. Nothing worked until the fourth set when 6-4 Karsta Lowe found a rhythm. The former UCLA walk-on used her big left-armed swing to pound an opponent the United States had defeated 3-1 in pool play.
“We did a good job rallying around each other,” veteran outside hitter Jordan Larson told reporters. “Our team has a great culture and dynamic. We’re here for each other.”
As they entered the final set, the U.S. women seemingly had solved their issues. They drifted ahead with steady play.
Their third consecutive gold-medal match was around the corner when taking a 10-7 lead.
Then it disappeared. The Americans reverted to the mental lapses that sabotaged them in the second and third sets and lost eight of the final 11 points.
“In this important, difficult moment we showed that we wanted to win more or we have more courage,” Mihajlovic told reporters.
Lowe hit a ball into the net to allow Serbia to draw even at 12-12. Milena Rasic got her fourth ace of the match for a one-point lead before her next serve failed to bring it to 13-13.
Then middle blocker Rachael Adams gave Serbia match point with a faulty serve.
Boskovic’s final kill left the American women with tears streaming down their cheeks as Serbia (5-2) will play in its first Olympic final.
The United States will have to wait for its chance, but it’s probably going to be too late for Akinradewo.
“There’s one thing we want to accomplish,” Kiraly said. “It’s not going to happen this month. I don’t know if it’ll happen four years from now or 52 years from now, but our job is to make an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. program.”