Team USA desperately needed a win after its near comeback against China fell just short in its first match of the tournament.
The U.S. entered the game sitting in third in Pool A, and getting at least a point was absolutely critical.
The United States and Serbia have met in the semifinals at each of the last two Olympics, splitting the matchups, and today delivered another classic match between the two.
The Americans clearly did not learn a whole lot from their male counterparts yesterday, who blew a two-set lead to Germany before ultimately escaping with the win. Thankfully for them they learned at least one thing, and that was how to hang on once they have blown a two-set lead.
Team USA used an incredible defensive effort to survive an incredible comeback by Serbia and put itself in position to qualify for the knockout stages.
The U.S. was trailing 14-12 in the middle of the first set when a switch flipped and it began to dominate. The Americans used a 9-0 run to take a commanding 22-14 lead and won 25-17.
The key for the Americans was keeping reigning World Championships MVP, Tijana Boskovic, in check. Serbia's superstar had five points on just 5/12 in attack and it threw her team out of rhythm on offense. The two-time reigning world champions had seven unforced errors in the first set, extremely uncharacteristic of their attack.
A huge part of disrupting Serbia on offense was Chiaka Obogwu's tremendous defense. She had five points, four of which came on blocks, in the first set and set the tone for the team's defense.
That defensive effort continued in the second set as the Americans turned up the pressure on Serbia. Haleigh Washington added three blocks alongside Obogwu and the Americans had nine total. That helped hold Serbia to just a 9.2% hitting efficiency through two sets.
Then, something changed.
With their backs against the wall, Serbia turned up the defensive pressure in the third set. They shut the Americans down behind Maja Aleksic, who was 4/7 on blocking. In all Serbia had five blocks, 19 digs and was 15/38 attacking in the third set. Boskovic started to get going, going for 11 points on 8/19 after that rough first set.
By the time the fourth set rolled around it looked like two completely different teams. Serbia completely turned the match upside down to force a tiebreak. Suddenly, Boskovic looked like the superstar she is, adding 10 points in the third to raise her total to 26 on 22/45 attacking.
Serbia's offense aside from Boskovic was extremely efficient as well, going 16/32 with two aces as a team in the set. The defensive effort may have been even better, the Serbians had 22 digs in the third set alone and seemed to never let the ball hit the floor. All this added up to an absolutely dominant 25-14 set win for Serbia to force the fifth.
The Americans trailed 8-5 at the halfway point in the fifth, but scored three straight points to get it back to 8-8. Jordan Thompson scored two of those three points with a kill and a block to get it tied.
The momentum really changed in the fifth when Boskovic was taken off the floor and the Americans scored three straight again to take a 12-9 lead. This time it was Annie Drews, held in check for most of the night, coming through with a huge kill. The Serbian superstar came back on and the U.S. managed to get themselves to match point, which Serbia survived to tie it at 14.
Finally, on it's fifth match point of the night, the United States was able to kill off this rollercoaster of a match to win the set 17-15 and take two massive points in Pool C. It was as close as could be, with the play even going to review for a possible touch by the U.S. It was really close, but the referee ruled there was no touch and the celebration ensued.
The U.S. is now second place in the group with three points and has a favorable matchup against France coming up Sunday at 7 a.m. Serbia is still top of the group with four points, and has China Sunday at 11 a.m. Everything is up for grabs in Pool C on the final matchday, and the U.S. put itself in a great position to advance by hanging on.