Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 16, 2016 – The United States kept their unbeaten run and gained the second semifinal spot in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games women’s volleyball competition, following their straight-set (25-16, 25-23, 25-22) win over Japan in the quarterfinals at Maracanazinho on Tuesday.
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As it has been all tournament, USA scoring was done by committee with seven players hitting double figures, led by Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore, a Collins Hill grad, with 19 points apiece.
The U.S. will next play the victor of Tuesday night’s quarterfinal matchup between France and Canada.
The U.S. brought some order to a wild day that began with two quarter-finals decided in the dying seconds, stretching their Olympic winning streak to 47 games as they zero in on a sixth consecutive gold medal.
Stanford grad Kristian Ipsen placed fifth and American Michael Hixon took 10th Tuesday night at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center in the Rio Olympics, marking the first time since 2000 the US had two divers among the top 10. “We have confidence in everyone on this team”. Cuban-born Orlando Ortega of Spain took silver in 13.17 seconds and Dimitri Bascou of France won bronze in 13.24.
The U.S. duet finished ahead of Greece (171.8550) and Mexico (170.9935), two teams they placed behind at the 2015 FINA World Championships. Then they blew the game open in the fourth quarter, outscoring Japan 29-5. “We all know that”, guard Diana Taurasi said. The point guard averaged 6.0 assists with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 10-to-1 in five group games.
“Others may have them, but I don’t”, said Kiraly, the only person to win gold as a player in beach and indoor volleyball and looking to become the first as a coach and player.
The Americans will face the victor of Canada vs. France in Thursday’s semifinals.
The Japanese women’s basketball team talked the upbeat pre-game talk that any team worth a nickel usually does.
On the track Olympic stadium, Omar McLeod converted his season dominance of the 110-meter hurdles into an Olympic gold medal, a first for Jamaica in the event. “But you know I think Japan have been great for a couple of years now”. China took a photo after their game against the Americans in pool play. “We just tried to do our best to stay with our game plan and be aggressive, and our defense really kick started our offense in the second half where we were able to get a lot of stops in a row and had stifling runs that we were trying to make”. She has had issues with her left knee, but this is the first injury to her right knee.
Needless to say, the United States pulled away as a result.
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The Japanese women just couldn’t keep up with the Americans’ overwhelming talent and escalating execution as the game continued.
