It’s different, watching Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes play volleyball now.
Not all that long ago – a month, really – they were the young underdogs knocking on the door, awaiting their breakthrough. They had proven they could beat the best teams in the world on occasion. They had proven they could win a medal on occasion. They were a team no other team could sleep on.
Yet when it came to playing the best teams in the world – the April Rosses and Alix Klinemans, Agathas and Dudas, Sarah Pavans and Melissa Humana-Paredeses – they were the ones making the upset bid, not the other way around.
Something’s changed.
Perhaps it happened in Sochi, Russia, when Sponcil and Claes won their first FIVB event together. Perhaps it happened somewhere during Sochi. Maybe it began when they controlled every point of a 21-12, 21-18 win over Italy, or when they beat Agatha and Duda for the second consecutive time, 21-15, 22-20. Perhaps it was when they again vanquished Americans Kelley Kolinske and Emily Stockman, in another unfortunate draw, pitting Americans against Americans.
It is impossible to pin it down to a single moment when it happened, but Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil are underdogs no more.
They might just be the best team in the world.
They proved as much in Sochi, when they won six straight matches to claim their first gold, leaping Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat in the Olympic race.
They proved it again in Ostrava, Czech Republic, when they won another six straight matches to claim their second gold in as many weeks.
They did so convincingly, with a 21-15, 21-16 semifinal win over Brazilians Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas, then they did it again, sweeping Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre, 21-18, 21-15 in the finals.
There’s something different about Claes and Sponcil now.
They’re Olympians.
Gold medalists.
And, as of this moment, they might just be the best team in the world.
