Annie Drews and her teammates showed their volleyball mettle Thursday.
The Americans will now get to play for another gold medal thanks to their grit.
Drews, an Elkhart native who graduated from Penn High School and stared collegiately at Purdue, teamed with Kathryn Plummer to help lead her US volleyball team to a thrilling 3-2 win over Brazil in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The U.S. team prevailed 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11 in the marathon match last lasted more than two hours Thursday.
The Americans, who beat Brazil 3-0 to win the gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, will play for its second ever gold medal Sunday at 7 a.m. ET. The US squad will face either Italy or Turkey Sunday. Italy was set to face Turkey in the second semifinal Thursday afternoon.
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Drews, the sweet-swinging southpaw, powered down 17 kills in the gutty win. The former Penn High School and Purdue University star leads the team in kills through its five matches.
Plummer, a 6-6 outside hitter, powered down 23 kills. Plummer, despite battling the flu, had the final two kills of the match.
Drews got her team going to open the match with the first kill of the opening set. The Americans took advantage of poor Brazil hitting in the back and forth first set. The US trailed 19-16 before a 4-0 run turned the tide. The set was tied again at 23-23 before Plummer crushed two kills for the win. The US had a 16-9 edge in kills in the key opening set win.
Brazil answered in the second set with a dominant performance to even the match. Plummer was unstoppable in set three as the Americans dominated play to take a 2-1 lead. Plummer had 16 kills, Avery Skinner 10 and Drews nine to pace the US offense through three sets.
More: Former Penn, Purdue volleyball star Annie Drews chasing Olympic gold again in Paris
Drews, who led her team to the gold medal in Tokyo three years ago, was on fire in the fourth set. The 6-4 opposite skied for seven kills in the set, but Brazil pulled out the win to set up a fifth set.
The Americans trailed 6-4 in the final set before rallying to tie it at 7-7. Drews helped lead a 5-1 rally with a key kill to cap it to make it 12-8. After a timeout, Brazil got within 12-10. But the Americans closed strong with a 3-1 run as Plummer delivered match point with a huge kill off a Brazil block attempt.
Plummer led the US team with 26 points in the win.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Team USA women’s volleyball earns berth in Olympic gold medal match
