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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States defeated the Netherlands 3-1 to claim the women's volleyball bronze medal of the Rio Olympics on Saturday.
This is the fifth Olympic medal in history for the United States as they have already earned three silvers and one bronze, without a single gold one. For the Netherlands, the bronze medal play-off was the furthest they have gone at an Olympic Games.
The Americans outclassed Netherlands at the net with a 13-6 advantage in the blocking led by Rachael Adams with five. The winners also held a wide 10-6 margin in aces, including four by Kimberly Hill.
The top scorer in the match was wing spiker Hill with 19 points. She converted the Americans' second set point to take the first set 25-23.
Anne Buijs and Lonneke Sloetjes finished with 15 points apiece for the Netherlands, while Celeste Plak and Robin De Kruijf had 11 points each.
Both teams faced difficulties with their serve reception in the first set. The Dutch got an early two-point lead at 4-2 but three spikes by Larson-Burbach spearheaded an American reaction for a four-point command. The Dutch side came back to tie at 18-all with a block by Belien. The two straight spikes by Hill snapped the 21-all tie and the same Hill sealed the set 25-23 for the United States.
The Netherlands fought back in the second set and saved two set points to prevail 27-25, thanks to a service ace by wing spiker Anne Buijs. It remained a high quality and tight contest in the third set, in which the United States came out on top after two important aces, the first from Karsta Lowe at 22-21 and then by Hill at 24-22.
Netherlands did not have many chances in the fourth set and the United States secured the bronze medal with another ace from Hill to take the final phase of play 25-19 and the bronze medal match 3-1.
