RIO DE JANEIRO -- Leaning over, hands on her knees and cheering at every chance, injured U.S. star Foluke Akinradewo could only watch. The top-ranked Americans had fought back to force a fifth set against Serbia before falling short -- short of the gold-medal goal that had driven her and others back to the national team for one more Olympic cycle.Serbias players cried in triumph after the biggest win in their programs history. They reached the Rio de Janeiro championship, guaranteeing the countrys first womens volleyball medal after a 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13 victory.Serbia plays Saturday night against China, a four-set winner over the Netherlands. China needed six set points to take the opening frame on the way to a hard-fought 27-25, 23-25, 29-27, 25-23.The American coaches were scouting the thriller.Right now, this loss is deeply disappointing. It cuts deep. Its very painful, and thats OK, U.S. coach Karch Kiraly said. When you care that much, its going to. Were going to process that some, we get some time to grieve. We signed up to do difficult things with USA and were going to come back harder the next 48 hours to fight for the bronze medal.Akinradewos teammates took over after she was sidelined by an apparent left knee injury late in the opening set after beginning the match brilliantly. She tried to give it a go, but the leg didnt let her. Akinradewo will undergo tests to determine whether she might play Saturday.It was tough when Foluke went down. I think we were a little distracted there for a second because we care so much for her, captain Christa Dietzen said, briefly becoming emotional. Obviously we wanted to turn this around, for her, for everybody thats part of this program. We have a chance in the next 48 hours to do so.Akinradewo stood next to Kiraly during timeouts, shaking her head and yelling, Come on!Kiraly switched his lineup in her absence, then switched it again. Serbia kept pounding, digging out balls, leaping for blocks and serving with precision.The Americans led 12-10 in the fifth set when Karsta Lowe served into the net, then Milena Rasic answered with an ace and U.S. middle blocker Rachael Adams also netted her serve.Its amazing. Theres no words to describe really this feeling, Serbias Tijana Malesevic said. I think we need more time to be aware of what we did, but we gave our heart. We gave everything what we could, what we know, like everything -- like each player, staff, coaches. We made it. This is history. We wrote history for Serbia, for volleyball federation, for the world.Lowe came through with her powerful left arm, Dietzen and Adams blocked masterfully as Kayla Banwarth provided her signature reliable passing, but the Americans (6-1) couldnt close it out with their star middle blocker down.The Americans are knocked out of title contention, and two-time defending Olympic champion Brazil was ousted in a stunning five-setter by China in the quarterfinals. That means Serbia will face a young Chinese squad led by former U.S. coach Jenny Lang Ping -- she raised her arms in the air and then sighed in relief as her players hugged her.The U.S. will take on a determined Dutch team back in the Olympics for the first time in 20 years.Both of those teams also advanced out of the preliminary pool with the U.S. and Serbia, which had lost a four-setter last week to the Americans.But the sixth-ranked Serbians have surprised the U.S. on the big stage before -- taking a five-set win a year ago at the World Cup in Japan, helping force the Americans into a second-chance qualifier at Lincoln, Nebraska, in January.It took contributions from each woman on the U.S. 12-player roster to get back into the match.Our team has a great culture and dynamic. Were here for each other, outside hitter Jordan Larson said. Thats whats going to show and thats whats going to carry us through.Now, the Americans plan to take the example from beach stars Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, who lost in the semifinals to Brazil before bouncing back for bronze.Kiraly, the most decorated player of his generation as the only person with gold medals in beach and indoor volleyball, hurt to his core after this one. Thats how much he loves his team, the players who are here and so many who arent.The plan wont change: He knows that elusive gold is still out there to be had, one day.One thing that we would like to accomplish, and its not going to happen this month, Kiraly said. I dont know if itll happen four years from now or 52 years from now, but our job is to make an Olympic gold medal happen at some point for the history of the U.S. program. ... The fight continues. Nike VaporMax Moc Flyknit . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. 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Saucony Jazz Original Womens . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Rio -- Indian boxer Manoj Kumar stunned London Olympics bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas in a fiercely-contested opening bout to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the 64kg category.?Manoj, a Commonwealth Games gold-medalist, prevailed 2-1 in a hard-fought battle in which he had to hold his ground against the intense aggression displayed by the Lithuanian Petrauskas in all three rounds. Manoj will next be up against the fifth-seeded Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the pre-quarters, scheduled for Sunday.Evenly-matched on pace and agility, Manoj and Petrauskas were quite distinct in their attacking approach. While Petrauskas, the London Olympics bronze winner in the lightweight 60kg division, aggressively tried to engage the Indian from close range, Manoj preferred to back-peddle and hit from a distance.You dont get time to think as much in the ring, Manoj said after the bout. I was responding to his punching style in the ring, you have to adapt your strategy to how your opponent in the ring is boxing.At the end of the opening three minutes, it was Manojs tactics that found favour with the judges, who awarded the first round to him.In the second round, too, Petrauskas was the more aggressive of the twoo but Manoj managed to stave off the challenge by sticking to his strategy of keeping a distance and hitting occasional uppercuts to his opponents body.ddddddddddddNeither of the boxers were willing to make any change to their strategy in the final three minutes as well, although the desperate attacks launched by Petrauskas did unnerve Manoj to an extent.The pumped-up effort secured Petrauskas the final round, but it was not enough to turn the bout in his favour as Manoj was adjudged the winner.I was happy to have pulled the bout off. I knew he was a hard opponent but I hadnt spent much time studying him, Manoj said. I prefer not to do too much tactical planning away from the ring because if it doesnt come off you arent sure how to respond. So it is best to leave it to the ring.I am confident that the hard work I have put in all these years will work in my favour at the Olympics.The win meant Manoj joined seventh-seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) as the second Indian boxers in the pre-quarters. On Thursday, Shiva Thapa will open his campaign in the bantamweight (56kg) category. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Authentic Jerseys ' ' '