Karch Kiraly doesn’t get caught up in the past – good or bad.
The U.S. women’s volleyball coach is always trying to move forward, looking to what’s next.
Kiraly kept that same approach as his team moved to the Olympic quarterfinals Tuesday, calling a clutch timeout and helping his team over the hump in a trying second set.
As Japan drew even with the U.S. at 22-all, the “Michael Jordan of volleyball” halted play and told his team, “This is not a surprise. They are a good team. This is really good for us. We get a chance to clean it up.”
And that’s exactly what the Americans did, as Jordan Larson drove home two of the final three points of the second set and Team USA plowed over Japan for a three-set sweep (25-16, 25-23, 25-22)
The top-ranked team in the world moved to 6-0 in Rio and drew one step closer to its first gold medal ever.
The women’s semifinals kick off Thursday and the U.S. will take on the winner of Russia and Serbia.