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USA gained a lot with captain Larson's return

The Americans defeated Russia yesterday, and got back in the race for the final tournament placement. They gained a lot with captain Larson's return, looked much better than last week. Korea were much weaker, and were crushed by Brazil

FIVB

The Americans finally got their first three points in Grand Prix. After defeating Japan in five sets in the last week's tournament's last match, they defeated the Russians 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-17) yesterday. They made lots of mistakes like they did the last week, but also played better in a lot of segments. That win pieced back their broken self-confidence, and they are back in the race for the placement for the final tournament.

- We got better in some phases of the game, compared to the matches last week. We're happy we made some changes in our game. We expected a tough match, and keep expecting them in the following matches - the American coach Kiraly concluded.

Compared to the last week tournament, the Americans got the captain Larson back. You could see how much she means for their game yesterday. She brought the calmness in reception, and an extra solution in the offense. The corrector Murphy played a great game, too, winning 20 points with a bit above 50% offense realization. Akinradewo was great once again, she's the world best blocker right now.

- I'm really happy with the way we played today. The blockers were really good, receivers amazing, they allowed me to pick up fast. We had a lot of offense options, the receivers reacted great many times today, I'm really proud of them - the technician and the USA captain Glass said.

The American team have a lot more reason to be optimistic today than the Koreans do. The tradition in these matches is far on the American side. The last time they played against each other was in the London Olympics two years ago. It was a semifinal match where USA celebrated without losing a set. Both changed the team a lot since then, USA more than Korea.

Korea played at home last week, got two wins playing good volleyball. None of that happened yesterday, when Brazil crushed them 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-15). The Koreans just couldn't match their opponents. They didn't have luck, either, because Brazil were in a great mood.

- Brazil played really well, and we couldn't play our best today. I think it's because of the travel. Jet lag left its mark, we'll try to get rest tonight, and we hope we'll play better in the following matches - Korea's best player Kim said.

If they can stop her, the Americans will do more than half of their job. Korea's game depends on how Kim plays, and if Kim is out of her element, Korea can hardly deal with anyone in the strongest division of the World Grand Prix.