The clean sweep – 25-16, 25-23, 25-22 – was courtesy of a well-swinging USA squad that dominated the net throughout the match, improving to 6-0 in the tournament.
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In the preliminary round, the US women went 5-0 and earned 14 out of a possible 15 points.
There seems to be no stopping the US women’s basketball team in their quest for a sixth straight Olympic gold. Against the best defensive team in the world, balls are going to come back across the net.
The top-ranked team in the world moved to 6-0 in Rio and drew one step closer to its first gold medal ever.
Russian Federation and Serbia play at 5 p.m. while Brazil and China have the primetime nightcap at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday.
U.S. were prolific against Japan in spikes 45-37, in blocks 5-2 and in aces 5-2, although the latter played excellent defence on the North American team with 21 excellent digs and 32 receptions. They have faced Japan more times than any other team since 1983. “I was proud of the team we were able to get it out in three sets”.
Netherlands will play the victor of Tuesday’s Brazil-China showdown in the semis on Thursday before Saturday’s final and bronze medal matches. The U.S. team scored over 100 points in all five of their group play games and are likely to keep going at that rate throughout their powerful Rio run.
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Two-time reigning Olympic champion and host Brazil will take on a young China team in Tuesday’s late match for a date with the upstart Netherlands women, who beat South Korea in four games.
