Maracanazinho Stadium will be crowded with avid volleyball fans following the crucial matches of the tournament
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 16, 2016 – The final stretch of the women’s volleyball tournament at Rio 2016 Olympic Games kicks off on Tuesday with the quarterfinal phase featuring splendid matches full of excitement at Maracanazinho Stadium.
The opening match of the quarterfinals between Netherlands and Korea presents two of the top scorers of the preliminary phase with Dutch Lonneke Sloetjes who led all players with 100 points in her five matches and Korean Kim Yeon Koung, who was fourth with 85. The Asian side was third in Pool A with a 3-2 record while the squad of Netherlands had a 4-1 mark and 2-1 in three five-setters.
Second match of the day will see the confrontation between finesse and power as defensive specialists Japan meet the heavy-hitting United States. The world’s No. 1 ranked Americans finished second in the last two editions of the Olympic Games arriving into the second phase of Rio 2016 with a 5-0 record while London’s bronze medalists Japan were fourth in Pool A with a 2-3 record.
Nataliya Goncharova and Tatiana Kosheleva, second and fifth best scorer in pool play, lead Russia in the classic European battle against Serbia in the third contest of Tuesday. Russia concluded second in Pool A losing only to undefeated Brazil while Serbia closed the preliminary round in third place with a 3-2 record in the strong Pool B on the shoulders of prolific scorers Brankica Mihajlovic and Tijana Boskovic.