Netherlands' Anne Buijs scored 19 points in the victory over Italy in straight sets
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 19, 2016 – Team of Netherlands collected an important 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-20) victory over Italy moving closer to the quarterfinal of the women’s volleyball tournament at Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
With a 2-1 win-loss record and 6 points in Pool B, the Dutch side only needs to add one more point to seal its place among the final eight of the competition. Italy dropped to 0-3 on the verge of elimination.
Italy and Puerto Rico, both with 0-3 and without points, can get a maximun of 6 points by winning their two remaining matches by 3-0 or 3-1 score.
Anne Buijs collected 19 points and Lonneke Sloetjes added 14 as the best scorers for the winners in the match. Yvon Belien contributed 10 points in the win, including three blocks and two aces. Paola Egonu had 12 points as the top Italian scorer, while Cristina Chichirella and Antonella del Core each had 9 in the loss.
While both teams were evened in blocks (6-6) and aces (5-5), the winners held a big advantage in attacks (49-32).
Netherlands dominated Italy from start to finish in set one with leads of 10-4 and 17-12 before closing at 25-21.
The second set was more evened with Italy tying at 9-all with one ace by Orro. Team exchanged attacks until a 13-13 score when Netherlands started to break away winning 25-20 with a block by De Kruijf.
Trailing by one point at 14-13, Netherlands went on to win eight of the next 10 points to take a commanding lead at 21-16, before the final score 25-20.