Recapping the third day of the women’s volleyball tournament from the 2016 Rio Olympics, including a key win for the United States.
The 2016 Rio women’s volleyball tournament returned on Wednesday with another six matches of pool play, as teams are quickly beginning to separate themselves in the standings. Following a tough five-set victory the Netherlands, the top-seeded United States women were set for another test against Serbia in the only match between undefeated teams of the day. While the U.S. took the first set easily, Serbia knotted things up in the second with a 25-21 win.
The Americans responded by cruising in the last two sets 25-18. 25-19 and now have eight points atop Pool B. Foluke Akinradewo had her best match of the tournament with 16 points and four blocks, and the United States played a very miscue-free game as a team outside of the second set. China is right behind the United States with seven points after an easy sweep of Puerto Rico. Ting Zhu filled up the stat sheet with 20 points on 16 spikes, along with three blocks.
Elsewhere in Pool B, the Netherlands had little trouble with Italy, winning in straight sets. The four quarterfinals representatives from the group look fairly clear, as both Italy and Puerto Rico are sitting on zero points.
Russia opened up Pool A action for the afternoon with a sweep of Cameroon. While Cameroon kept things close in the second and third sets, 19 points each from Nataliya Goncharova and Tatiana Kosheleva proved to be too much to overcome.
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South Korea picked up a sweep of winless Argentina behind 16 spikes from captain Yeon Koung Kim. The day closed with one of the most anticipated matches of the round, as hosts Brazil easily dispatched Japan to tie Russia atop Pool A.
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