USA enjoy successful debut at packed South
Paris Arena
PARIS, France, July 27, 2024.- With Russell and Defalco
on an excellent night, the Americans swept Argentina in front of over
10,000 fans.
The first day of the Paris 2024 Olympics volleyball
tournament had an appropriate ending on Saturday, with packed stands at
the South Paris Arena 1 and an elite-level match played in an electric
atmosphere, which had the United
States topping Argentina 3-0
(25-20, 25-19, 25-16) to secure three important points in
Pool C.
The result places the Americans at the top of the
standings in the pool ahead of Germany (two) and Japan (one) at the
conclusion of the first round of matches and gives them 10.46 FIVB
World Ranking points that kept the team in sixth place –
Argentina didn’t collect any points in the pool, but were also able to
preserve their ninth place in the World Rankings despite the defeat.
With over 10,000 fans cheering on the stands, the
Americans fed from their energy to produce a dominant performance and
counted on productive nights by outside hitters Aaron
Russell, who led the team with 16 points (13 kills, three
aces), and TJ
Defalco, who added another 14 (nine kills, four aces, one
block), to beat the Argentineans for a third time in the last four
encounters.
"The atmosphere was amazing," setter Micah
Christenson said. "I can't thank the fans enough for filling
the stands tonight, we felt a lot of support on our side of the net,
which was pretty spectacular. We never expect to get a 3-0 win in an
Olympic match, but we'll take it. We played great volleyball and showed
a lot of our strengths as a team. These three points are really
important, but the job is far from finished. We were entirely focused on
Argentina and now we'll look into Germany, who are also a very good
team."
Serving was at the core of the American strong
performance as they outscored their opponents by eight points to zero in
that skill, besides also dominating in blocks (six to three) and kills
(38 to 33).
Middle blocker Agustin
Loser, with eight points, and opposite Bruno
Lima and outside hitter Facundo
Conte, with seven each, were Argentina's main scorers in the
match.
"We had a tough match and the United States played very
well," Lima commented. "Their serving was really good, and their
blocking and defense created a lot of problems to us. We managed to
start all three sets well but couldn't keep our rhythm until the end. We
have two more matches and still have chances to qualify, so we'll try
our best against Japan and Germany. I'm sure nothing will be decided
until the last day and we'll be ready for the next battles."
The score remained close during the first half of the
opening set, with Conte leading the Argentinean offense and Defalco
scoring at a high clip for the Americans. The first break happened when
a pair of offensive errors by the South Americans gave their opponents a
16-12 lead. The USA managed to keep their edge until the end and won the
set 25-20 after Russell scored with a powerful spike.
Argentina started the second set stronger and quickly
created a 5-2 lead with a spike by Palonsky. Their advantage didn’t last
long, though, as Russell leveled the score in nine points by tooling the
opposing block and then scored four more, including three straight from
the service line, to put the Americans ahead at 14-10. After remaining
in control until the end, the Americans secured their 25-19 victory with
another ace, this one from Defalco.
The third set started as the second ended – with Defalco
firing an ace – and that set the tone for what was to come as after just
a few minutes they already had a 5-2 lead. Their game continued to flow,
and their advantage turned into a comfortable 15-7, which forced
Argentina into a timeout. The break, however, didn't alter the pace of
the match and the Americans confirmed their opening-match victory with a
25-16 victory in the set, sealed with another Russell swing.
Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results
The two teams will continue their campaigns in Paris on
different days as the Americans will now face Germany on Tuesday, at
13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), while the Argentineans will meet Japan one
day later, also at 13:00 local time. Earlier on Saturday, the Germans
topped the Japanese in five sets in the Paris 2024 men's volleyball
tournament opening match. |