PARIS – By the time they’d reached the gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics against Italy, members of the United States women’s volleyball team liked to joke that, since Plan A through E hadn’t come together, they were on Plan F.
And that had evolved into Plan ‘eff you,’ according to setter and captain Jordyn Poulter.
The plan ended with a silver medal, as Italy swept the Americans (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) in a match that lasted 81 minutes to deny Team USA a second consecutive gold medal.
Injuries and inconsistent play in the months leading up to the tournament – those factors denying them opportunities to play together and left them patching together rosters when they could – had everyone within the program thinking their Olympic run may not last long, Poulter said. They hoped they would. But hope isn’t enough.
‘I don’t know what we had done as a team to make anyone, even ourselves, believe we would get here,’ Poulter said.
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The Americans entered the court Sunday to Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman.’ The ‘beast under their bed’ turned out to be Italy.
Italy controlled the proceedings immediately and led 6-1 in the first set. The second was more tightly contested but the Italians pulled away during the middle portions of the frame. And in the third, the U.S. found itself down early once again. Two aces to make it 12-6 provided the death knell. Italy had the momentum, and the decidedly pro-Italian crowd certainly helped.
‘It-a-lia! It-a-lia!’ they chanted.
When Jordan Thompson’s strike landed out of bounds, the team wearing blue (Italy) collapsed on the floor in a sea of hugs and lifted libero Monica de Gennaro in the air.
‘They are the best team in the world right now,’ Poulter said. ‘I don’t think there’s much more that we could have done.’
Poulter said there was a level of pride making it to the final day of the Games. A lot of this team grew up watching Michael Phelps, and that they realize gold is the standard and expectation in America.
‘But it is not an easy feat, to medal at the Olympics,’ she said.
Most of the U.S. team plays professionally in Italy, the pro infrastructure is world-class. That level of competition is what they face every night in the Italian League.
Italy’s opposite hitter Paola Egonu supplied the bulk of her team’s attack, as she went off for 22 kills and was by far the best player on the court.
‘You can have a game plan against her, and she can manage to find angles … she’s an incredible player,’ Poulter said.
The USA struggled to negotiate Italy’s block in the middle, aside from Thompson, who finished with a team-best eight kills. Lefty outside hitter Avery Skinner had seven.
‘So proud of this team and this group,’ Thompson said. ‘I really think we left absolutely everything we had out there.’
Italy finished with seven aces. Five came in the third set.
These Games had not been the most dominant run for the U.S. despite the silver medal. The Americans dropped their first match of the tournament to China, went five sets the next match against Serbia and battled Brazil in a back-and-forth five-setter during the semifinals Thursday.
‘All of those pushed us to the absolute limit,’ coach Karch Kiraly said.
Italy, meanwhile, lost one set in its opening match against the Dominican Republic and then won 15 consecutive sets on the way to gold.
That the silver medalists are the lone team on the podium to celebrate their accomplishments in the immediate aftermath of a loss was bittersweet, Kiraly said.
‘But this group has done phenomenal things in these 17 days,’ Kiraly said. ‘I don’t know that we knew how much we had in us and we showed (it). … It gives me goosebumps.’
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