​It looked as if the bronze medal match between Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross was going to go the way of their crushing semifinal loss to Brazil's No. 2-ranked team Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas less than 24 hours before.

Against the top-ranked Brazilian duo Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca, who lost to Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in the semifinals, Walsh Jennings continued to struggle with serve receive and her blocking was ineffective in defending against Talita's big swings and precise shots. The first set slipped out of the Americans reach 21-17, and the second set was quickly following suit. 

Larissa and Talita held 14-12 lead in set two, when Walsh Jennings put away a kill on two and then the Americans won a long and hard-fought rally. That seemed to give them just the boost they needed. After that point, Walsh Jennings' shaky serve receive seemed to calm, her blocking became more ferocious. And Ross covered every inch of the court keeping almost everything Brazil threw over off the sand. The scoreline was 17-14 before Brazil scored another point.

Set two felt like a miracle, with the USA winning 21-17. In set three, it remained close, but after the side switch with USA leading by one 8-7, Kerri and April at least knew they had it in the bag. Walsh Jennings put away three blocks late in the set, including two in a row to close it out.

The congratulations immediately began pouring in from those inside the volleyball community and out.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/GatorMary/status/766096392506871809" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/RyanDVolley/status/766092079839576064" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/766087987469975552" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/766091377369288704" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]