Olympics | USA defeats Serbia, secures top medal round seed

Final score: USA 3, Serbia 0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-16)

Next match: Sunday, 12noon (Pacific) vs. Turkey (2-2)

This could be Logan Tom’s last Olympics.

If so, the 31-year-old Stanford grad seems determined to make it memorable.

Logan Tom (right) snaps a kill past Serbia's block attempt
-Reuters

Tom finished with 10 kills and just 2 errors on 18 swings (.444) as USA (4-0) defeated Serbia (0-4) in three sets. With the win, USA clinches the top Pool B seed in next week’s quarterfinals.

This is Tom’s fourth Olympics, and she did not take London by storm. In the first match, a 3-1 victory over South Korea, Tom hit a miserable .088, with just 8 kills and 5 errors on 34 swings. But in a 3-1 win against Brazil, she had just one error with 12 kills and hit a sensational .407.

Against China—a 3-0 victory—Tom saw 19 attack attempts, and converted just 5 kills (.210). But as her performance today against Serbia showed, the team is better when she's on her game.

Tom is USA’s most consistent server, and is usually the opponent’s serving target. She had just one serve-receive error against Brazil (out of 23 attempts), and had no errors against the Serbians. Her game face seems famously locked in a scowl, but when she’s in her zone, she plays defense with the intensity of a libero.

For the match, USA outgunned Serbia .353 to .147. In large part, Serbia’s weak serve allowed USA to stay in system, so it ran its offense with minimal effort. USA totaled just 87 attack attempts—by far its lowest match total of these Olympics.

As usual, USA setter Lindsey Berg gave most attack opportunities to Destinee Hooker, who responded with 12 kills and 2 errors on 21 attempts (.476)—half her average of 42 attempts for the first three matches. Tom and Foluke Akinradewo (6 kills, .286) were the beneficiaries of Berg's wider distribution.

Destinee Hooker and Foluke Akinradewo
-AP

Hooker’s defense was way off the mark; she had six digging errors, an area of some concern entering the Olympics.

Megan Hodge came off her stellar China performance with a thud—1 kill, 2 errors on 7 attempts (-.142) She split time with usual starter Jordan Larson, who contributed what she could (5 kills, .333).

All 12 roster players saw playing time, with Danielle Scott-Arruda and Christa Harmotto sharing time, and Courtney Thompson and Tama Miyashiro making spot appearances. Thompson was the setter for the final six serves of the first set. Neither Thompson nor starting setter Berg distinguished themselves during the end of a somewhat lackluster second set.

USA will be the top seed from Pool B when medal round play begins next week. Its likely first opponent will be Dominican Republic (1-3).

First, however, USA must face Turkey on Sunday. Turkey is one of four Pool B teams with 2-2 records, and will likely need to win at least two sets against USA to advance.

---

With an 0-3 loss today to Dominican Republic, host Britain's hopes to advance to the medal round all but evaporated. Former Washington player Janine Sandell had six kills for Britain, which was outhit .395 to .068 as a team for the match. The British can still advance if it beats Japan (2-2) and Algeria (0-4) manages to defeat Dominican Republic.

---

[Note: teams are awarded three points for a 3-0 or 3-1 victory; 2 points for a 3-2 victory; 1 point for a 2-3 loss; and no points for a 1-3 or 0-3 loss. The top four team in each pool advances to the medal round quarterfinals, with the #1 seed in each pool facing the #4 seed in the other pool and the #2 seeds squaring off against the opposite pools #3.]

Pool A

		WINS	LOSSES	POINTS
1	Russia	Gr. Britain (3-0) Dom. Rep. (3-1) Algeria (3-0) Japan (3-1)		12
2	Italy	Dom. Rep. (3-1) Japan (3-1) Gr. Britain (3-0) Algeria (3-0)		12
3	Japan	Algeria (3-0) Dom. Rep. (3-0)	Italy (1-3) Russia (1-3)	6
4	Dominican Republic	Gr. Britain (3-0)	Italy (1-3) Russia (1-3) Japan (0-3)	3
5	Great Britain	Algeria (3-2)	Russia (0-3) Italy (0-3) Dom. Rep. (0-3)	2
6	Algeria		Japan (0-3) Gr. Britain (2-3) Russia (0-3) Italy (0-3)	1

Sunday's schedule: Russia vs. Italy, Japan vs. Great Britain, Dominican Republic vs. Algeria

Pool B

		WINS	LOSSES	POINTS
1	USA	Korea (3-1) Brazil (3-1) China (3-1) Serbia (3-0)		12
2	South Korea	Serbia (3-1) Brazil (3-0)	USA (1-3) Turkey (2-3)	7
3	China	Serbia (3-1) Turkey (3-1)	USA (0-3) Brazil (2-3)	7
4	Turkey	Serbia (3-0) Korea (3-2)	Brazil (2-3) China (1-3)	6
5	Brazil	Turkey (3-2) China (3-2)	USA (1-3) Korea (0-3)	4
6	Serbia		China (1-3) Korea (1-3) Turkey (0-3) USA (0-3)	0

 Sunday's schedule: USA vs. Turkey, South Korea vs. China, Brazil vs. Serbia