Team USA dug deep for a hard-fought victory in five sets over the Netherlands on Monday in the preliminary stage of the women's indoor volleyball tournament.
The Dutch team pulled off a surprising upset of gold-medal challenger China on the first day of volleyball action Saturday, beating the No. 3-ranked team in the world in five sets.
A day off didn't halt Netherlands' momentum, with the Dutch players coming out firing on all cylinders against the American squad.
The U.S. team got out to a flat start, losing the first set 25-18 and helping the Dutch team along with a slew of service faults.
The Americans responded with a 25-18 victory in the second set. At one spot in the middle of the set, USA recorded seven of eight points.
It looked as if the U.S. team - which entered Rio as the No. 1 squad in the world - had settled in, but Netherlands wouldn't allow it for long.
In the third set, the Dutch team jumped out to 24-17 lead. USA rattled off four straight points, but they couldn't complete the comeback, leading to a 25-21 loss in the third set.
U.S. & World
The two teams traded points in the fourth set before USA pulled away and sent the match into five sets with a 25-20 victory in the fourth set.
In the deciding set, a series of three consecutive blocks led to points for USA as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead. They went on to win the fifth set 15-8.
Since the match went to five sets, both teams retained a point for pool play and USA collected two points for the victory. The top four teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals, which begin Tuesday, Aug. 16.
