Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 14, 2016 - USA will face China in their final Pool B match on Sunday and, as always, it is likely to be extremely competitive, even though both teams have already qualified for the knockout phase.
USA (4-0) go into the match as the top team in Pool B while China have already suffered defeats to the Netherlands (3-2) and Serbia (3-0).
USA are never anything less than powerful and they won’t be taking their foot off the accelerator pedal on Sunday. As a ray of hope for China, they can look at the Americans’ four dropped sets, but Lang Ping’s girls will still have to step up to counter the American powerhouse.
China lost their first match in a 3-2 thriller against the Netherlands but followed up with victories over Italy and Puerto Rico, but they were soundly beaten by Serbia in their last match.
The two teams have met three times already this year, all in the FIVB World Grand Prix. China won the first match 3-1, but USA took the other two 3-0. USA also beat China in the final of the 2014 World Championship.
Surprisingly, no USA player is in the Top 10 list of scorers. Foluke Akinradewo comes in at No. 12 with 55 points, one place ahead of Kimberly Hill with 54. China’s Zhu Ting, the tournament’s top spiker, is at No. 6 with 70 points. Hill is ranked as USA’s top spiker at No. 14.
Zhu Ting comes in at No. 9 in the serving charts with the top USA servers Jordan Larson-Burbach and Danielle Lins joint 20th.