How the sport works
It never fails to stun me how tall volleyball players are, so when the American and Serbian teams came on the court, I found I kept saying, “My god, she's tall!” as each player was introduced. Numbers three and nineteen on the American squad seemed especially giant-like.
I am fantastically terrible when it comes to playing volleyball, so it impresses me all the more to see volleyball played well. I loved watching the Americans psych out the Serbians with decoy players jumping and pretending to spike the ball. Some of the rallies made me wince in sympathetic pain as I imagined the stinging and burning on the players' arms. I couldn't help but compare volleyball to soccer: when volleyball players dive on the hardwood floor, making that awful high pitch squeaking sound, they get up immediately and are back in the game. In soccer, however, players who fall on the soft, cushy grass, take their time to roll around and howl and hold up the game. Hmm. I know which sport I respect more.
Serbia played well, but the Americans outplayed them and deserved to take the match in three straight sets.
The Italy-Algeria game wasn't much of a contest with Italy finishing off Algeria in straight sets. That said, Algeria rose to the challenge and their playing improved as the match wore on.
