Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 11, 2016 - Puerto Rico will make another attempt at historic first Olympic Games victory as they meet the Netherlands on the fourth competition day in Pool B of the women’s volleyball tournament at Rio 2016.
The Dutch are currently fourth in the pool standings with a 2-1 win-loss record. They have secured a spot in the quarterfinals, but will be looking to improve their starting position.
Olympic rookies Puerto Rico have not won a single set so far and are sixth at the bottom of the standings. Without a shot at advancement, the NORCECA squad are hoping to write another page in their history by achieving their first Olympic victory.
The Netherlands and Puerto Rico have met seven times in major international competitions with the Dutch winning on six occasions. The only Puerto Rican victory came in the Preliminary Round of FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2014 Group 2 – 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13) on August 8 away in Doetinchem.
Later on in the same competition, they met in a semifinal match in Koszalin, Poland on August 15, 2014. This time the Dutch emerged victorious with 3-1 (22-25, 31-29, 25-20, 25-12). This was the most recent encounter between these two sides.
So far in Rio, the Netherlands started off with two five-setters – a win against China and a loss to USA, and then shut out Italy.
The Caribbean team lost in straight sets to USA, Serbia and China, in that order.