Familiarity with an opponent can be a double-edged sword, but that didn’t stop the U.S. Olympic Women’s Volleyball Team, ranked No. 1 in the world, in defeating No. 5 Japan 25-16, 25-23, 25-22 in the quarterfinal round of the Rio Games on Tuesday afternoon at Maracanazinho Arena to advance to the semifinals for the fourth consecutive Olympic Games.
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“We don’t go into any match expecting to win”, U.S. Olympic Women’s Volleyball Team Head Coach Karch Kiraly said.
With two minutes to go in the opening half, energetic Japan had worked its up-tempo style to perfection, cutting the Olympic champions’ lead to 46-44, but the USA finished with a flurry, going on a 10-2 run to ease into the second half with a 10-point lead that would only grow.
Team USA will be waiting for the victor of France vs Canada to end Tuesday’s action. A win and the USA would play in the gold medal game on Saturday.
And they looked impressive doing it.
“We’re really happy. It was a great performance; they gave everything”, U.S. National Team Coach Lolli Montico said. That was the first year that women’s basketball was played in the Olympics.
This is the Americans’ fate as a potential gold medal-winning team: They hear about their rivalry with Brazil even before they know when, or if, they’ll face them.
Instead, let’s go watch the type of basketball we expect from our Team USA. The women’s side, however, are not dominating in the way we expect Team USA to dominate, but they’re doing so in a pretty entertaining manner.
The dominance continues, with a semifinal game against either France or Canada on Thursday. “We always enjoy playing them”. “That was a pretty fantastic brand of basketball against a really good team”. Been on too many teams with her and I know how valuable she is to a team. Every team has played six games. The U.S. has score more than 100 points in four of its five games. But, in the next 72 seconds, the United States would go on an 8-0 run to close the second quarter. Elena Delle Donne, who sat out the final game of group play because of an eye injury, returned with 11 points and six rebounds off the bench.
France turned a 13-points deficit into a one-point lead before the match was tied 50-50 at the end of the third quarter.
So, it’s not entirely certain that there’s a team out there that could possibly knock the U.S. women out of this tournament.
Jordan Larson Burbach and Kimberly Hill top scored for US with an equal point output of 14 points, while Japan’s Miyu Nagaoka and Yuki Ishii scored 13 points each on a losing effort.
Japan’s Mika Kurihara (7) works the ball around United States’ Sue Bird (6) during a women’s quarterfinal round basketball game at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
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We were especially taken with diminutive point guard Asami Yoshida. Take Tuesday, when the US shot 65 percent overall and 61 percent (11 of 16) from 3-point range. They hadn’t played a team quicker than them with consistent 3-point shooting.
