United States outblocked Puerto Rico 10-4 in their straight-set victory on Saturday
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 – The United States defeated a resilient Puerto Rico in straight sets 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-17) in the fourth match of day one at the women’s volleyball tournament of Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Saturday.
Kelly Murphy and Kimberly Hill scored 13 and 12 points as the leading scorers for the winning side, while Foluke Akinradewo contributed 9 points in the victory. Stephanie Enright and Aury Cruz finished with 9 and 8 points, respectively, for Puerto Rico.
The winners held a 10-4 advantage in blocks led by Jordan Larson with three of her own, and 50-31 in spikes. Puerto Rico outserved the winners 4-2 and made only 13 errors to 17 by the winners.
It was a close battle between the two NORCECA teams until halfway of the first set when the United States took off boosted by the attack of Murphy and Hill.
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Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Volleyball historyIn the second set Puerto Rico played hustled in defence and was leading 19-17 only to see the United turning the tables with consecutive spikes by Hill for 20-19. Puerto Rico tied at 20-all but the Americans finally won 25-22 with the block from Akinradewo against Enright followed by the spike by Larson.
It was the same in the third set when the USA held a slight 13-12 advantage but then pressed the throttle to dominate the rest of the way.
