sed goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. It bounced off the netminder and right to Horvat, who buried his ninth goal of the season 7:46 into the final period.Wev

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. Terry Porter Jersey . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Georgios Papagiannis Blazers Jersey . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. https://www.blazerslockerroom.com/Customized/ . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. Bill Walton Blazers Jersey . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Anthony Tolliver Blazers Jersey . Argentina winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi scored, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up both despite having a poor game by his high standards. Forward Eduardo gave Ajaccio the lead in the sixth minute after being set up by right winger Benjamin Andre, and the Corsican side looked comfortable in the first half, with the lively Johan Cavalli causing problems with his probing runs from midfield. VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- This was a bounce the Vancouver Canucks felt they deserved.Bo Horvat scored the go-ahead goal off a lucky bounce in the third period, helping Vancouver beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Friday night.The Canucks blew a 5-2 lead in a demoralizing 8-6 loss to Carolina on Tuesday to close a 1-4-0 road trip, but came back with a rebound victory behind to Horvats fortunate tally.Horvat scored on a power play after the puck caromed off Loui Eriksson at the Tampa Bay blue line and skipped to surprised goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. It bounced off the netminder and right to Horvat, who buried his ninth goal of the season 7:46 into the final period.Weve had so many bounces that havent gone our way this year, Horvat said. To get one like that, it was kind of a relief.The breakthrough was Horvats first goal and second point in the last eight games.It was almost one of those ones where youre like, `Wow, that went our way for once, goalie Ryan Miller said. Hes got a flat-footed goaltender and a lot of net. Hes not going to miss too many times.With the Canucks and under-fire coach Willie Desjardins getting ripped by fans after the collapse in Carolina, former defenseman Mattias Ohlund -- who was inducted into the clubs Ring of Honour during a pre-game ceremony -- spoke with Vancouvers current roster on Friday morning.A lot of the things he said made sense, forward Alexnadre Burrows said. Where we are at right now, we cant get too high, we cant get too low. We have to embrace it, keep fighting and work. Its not going to be easy.Miller had 25 saves and Brandon Sutter, Luca Sbisa and Burrows also scored for Vancouver. Eriksson and Markus Granlund added two assists.Victor Hedman and Cory Conacher scored for Tampa Bay, which is 2-7-1 over its last 10.Vasilevskiy made 20 stops.You cant say we didnt play well, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. They had 10 scoring chances the whole game.Were playing pretty well defensively, unfortunately some of these turnovers are ending up in the back of our net.Miller made a nice save on Hedman with under eight minutes left to keep the Canucks in front, and Vancouver held the fort from there to pick up a much-needed victory after Burrows sixth into an empty net.The Lightning, who lost 5-1 to Vancouver on Dec. 8, trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes but got even 3:53 iinto the third on the man advantage.dddddddddddd The Canucks were fuming after Jannik Hansen was whistled for tripping, and Conacher made them pay with his first of the year in his third game by ripping a shot upstairs on Miller.Sutter got them on the board at 1:37 after Eriksson forced a turnover in the Tampa Bay zone. The puck fell to Granlund, who fed Sutter from his knees for a one-timer from well out that beat Vasilevskiy under the blocker for his eighth of the season.Daniel Sedin had a couple of chances for Vancouver later in the period before Miller, who allowed six goals on 30 shots prior to getting pulled last time out against the Hurricanes, made a nice stop on Jonathan Drouin at the other end.Sbisa then gave the Canucks their first lead with 6:35 left in the period after pivoting in the Tampa Bay zone, feeding Burrows at the point and popping home the rebound.Vancouvers banged-up blue line got a boost with the return of Christopher Tanev, who missed the last 20 games with a lower-body injury, but fellow defenseman Erik Gudbranson sat out with an undisclosed in jury.The Lightning, meanwhile, were without a number key players up front, including Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. Ryan Callahan missed his eighth straight game for Tampa Bay, while Steven Stamkos remains out longterm with a knee injury.Despite that missing firepower, the Lightning opened the scoring 6:31 into the first period on a forgettable shift for Vancouvers Nikita Tryamkin. The hulking Russian defenseman needlessly iced the puck to pin a tired group in the Canucks zone, and then accidentally bumped Miller as Hedman was scoring his sixth of the season off a nice feed Valtteri Filppula.Game notes Prior to the game, the Canucks inducted Mattias Ohlund into the clubs Ring of Honour. Ohlund played 11 seasons for Vancouver and owns the franchise mark for goals (93) and points (325) by a defenseman. ... Canucks D Alexander Edler remained out with a broken finger. ... Palat and Kucherov are expected to miss Tampa Bays game in Edmonton on Saturday, but Callahan could return.UP NEXTLightning: Play at Edmonton on Saturday.Canucks: Host red-hot Columbus on Sunday -- the Blue Jackets have won eight in a row. ' ' '