U.S. women's volleyball beats Brazil in Paris Olympics semifinal - ESPN

PARIS — Karch Kiraly's reigning Olympic champion U.S. women's volleyball team will get its shot at a repeat gold medal. And it took every extra hustle play by every American on the floor against the mighty Brazilians.

As Brazil's fans waved flags, chanted and sang from every corner of South Paris Arena, the U.S. women edged their fellow world powerhouse in a five-set thriller on Thursday, a compelling rematch of their Tokyo final won in straight sets by the U.S.

That was the Americans' first Olympic title, and now they can make it two in a row.

Brazil got within 12-10 in the fifth before the U.S. held on for the victory, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11.

When Kathryn Plummer's winning spike closed it out, the Americans huddled together in a huge group hug and bounced on the court in celebration.

They will play in Sunday's Olympic final while Brazil will go for bronze Saturday against the loser of the late match between top-ranked Italy and No. 3 Turkey.

The Brazilians haven't won gold since the London Games 12 years ago.

Brazil led 5-3 and was 10 points from taking the first-to-15 fifth set when the Americans rallied to tie it at 6-all and momentarily went ahead on Jordan Thompson's spike.

Both teams pulled off incredible saves close to the floor or even well out of bounds near their own benches to keep long points alive — and one fifth-set rally lasted more than 30 seconds.

The stands shook all afternoon with chants of «Bra-zil!» and «Monster Block!»

Brazil, ranked second in the world, two spots above the Americans, now has one last opportunity to reach the podium.

Many of these women have been battling it out under the lights of the big world stage for more than a decade now.

Brazil middle blocker Thaísa is 37, and