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United States advances into quarterfinals by beating Serbia in Olympic women's volleyball

Xinhua, August 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United States became the first team to enter the quarterfinals of the women's volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by defeating Serbia 25-17, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19 in a Pool B match here on Wednesday.

The United States improved to a 3-0 win-loss mark, while Serbia, at 2-1, will play against China in their next match, with the winner booking another berth in the top eight.

Rachael Adams had 18 points, including four aces, followed by Foluke Akinradewo who had four blocks among her 16 points. Tijana Boskovic and Brankica Mihajlovic each had 18 points for Serbia, while Jovana Stevanovic finished with nine points in the loss.

The high-flying style of Serbia was too much for the Americans, but too many errors caused the loss. Serbia committed 28 errors during the one hour and 32 minutes game, while the United States had only 14.

"We played pretty nice volleyball today," said Karch Kiraly, head coach of the United States, "We are in a very strong group, but that is the way we like it. I won't be surprised that if there was no team undefeated in our group."

Losing the first set 25-17, Serbia recovered to win the second set with the good defence at the net led by Boskovic and Mihajlovic carrying the load of the attack.

But thanks to the errors the Serbians committed, the USA team led again from the third set and concluded the match in a much easier way.

"We knew after we won the first set, Serbia will push us back, and they did. They put together a really nice match against us a year ago, we are happy to have another chance to play Serbia since we lost. I think they played better passing a year ago than today," added Kiraly. Endit