Serbia ends Americans' Rio dream in women's volleyball

Serbia made its first ever entry to an Olympic final by edging the United States 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 16-25, 15-13) in the Rio Olympic Games women's volleyball semifinals at Maracanazinho on Thursday.

With the victory, Serbia achieved an unprecedented feat as its previous best was a joint-fifth finish at Beijing 2008.

The United States had a good start. Tied at 12-all, the United States was able to gain the momentum after four consecutive points, then Rachael Adams blocked Tijana Boskovic to close the set in favour of the Americans 25-20.

But Brankica Mihajlovic joined in the scoring frame in the second and third sets and the Serbia team launched a strong comeback with brilliant servic and blocking. Serbia built a large lead in the set at 24-15 and Boskovic sealed the set 25-17 with a hammer. In the third, Mihajlovic stood out again to score two points to gain the set point 24-20, Christa Harmotto Dietzen's service error closed the set 25-20.

The Americans showed more focus in the fourth and forced the match into a tie-breaker with 25-16.

The United States took a 5-2 lead in the final set and Serbia managed to tie the score at 12-all. Milena Rasic turned things around with her ace to give Serbia its first taste of the lead in the set. Leading at 14-13, Boskovic's attack sealed their magical match victory 15-13.

Mihajlovic topped all scorers with 22 points, followed by Boskovic and Rasic who scored 20 and 18 points respectively. Adams scored 14 points for the United States, while Karsta Lowe and Jordan Larson-Burbach added 13 and 12 points.

Serbia served a total of eight aces, including the Rasic's ace that turned around the outcome in the fifth set. Rasic finished with four aces. Endit