USA tops Pool B of Olympic volleyball tournament at the end first round – Volleyball News
Top-ranked American men’s volleyball team ended the preliminary stage of the Olympic Volleyball Tournament by defeating Tunisia in straight sets, 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, and 25-19).
The Earls Court in London provided the backdrop for the match on Monday, which was witnessed by 11,000 spectators. Victory enabled USA to move to an overall record of 4-1 in the competition. On the other hand, Tunisia constantly remained in the cold waters and got eliminated from the Olympic Tournament.
USA’s David McKienzie dominated the scene and totalled match-high 17 points. He added 14 spikes on 25 attack attempts and also had two serve aces. Sean Rooney emerged as the second best-scorer of the match with 12 points, while Matthew Anderson notched up 10 points. Ismail Moalla finished with nine points for Tunisia.
US team opened the game in its usual style and delivered powerful serves. Tunisia was no match for USA and dropped too many easy shots in the early few minutes. Americans showed no mercy and added a flurry of points. The opening stanza of the match continued for 22 minutes and eventually ended in USA’s favour. Tunisia lost the first set with 10 points.
Tunisians struggled to improve in the following set. Comparatively saying, they played better but still could not produce a winning performance. USA successfully extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set in row.
Third set of the match also came successful for America and US team celebrated victory.
Speaking of the match, the US Head Coach Alan Knipe said: “We have some guys who haven’t played much who are extremely talented and they’re fresh, full of energy and delighted to get their opportunity. I think there has been some really good things to come out of the pool stage and that’s a good example”.
He shared his opinion about the upcoming quarterfinal match against Italy. He stated: “We have some time to get together and prepare for that. They are a really good serving team. They (Italy) will look at our videos and look at what weaknesses they can exploit and we will do the same”.
“We played against the Olympic champions, so the result was totally logical. We are amateurs. We are not at the level, but we tried to do our best” stresses
Tunisian coach Fethi Mkaouar acknowledged the better status of American team. Tunisia dropped the decision, but the coach was happy that his team got a chance to play against such experienced team.
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