PARIS — The USA men got off to a rousing volleyball start here, “coming out on fire and dropping the hammer on Argentina.”
And, no, that was not someone from the USA men’s team saying that about Saturday’s outcome, but USA women’s coach Karch Kiraly.
“Great start for them and something we’re hoping for against China,” Kiraly said.
Indeed, his team opens play at 5 p.m. local time Monday against China in a match that is so important for both teams that it can’t be overstated.
With the format changed for these Olympics, from two pools of six teams to three pools of four teams each, the margin for error is slim.
The Americans later in the Olympics play Serbia and then France and it’s pretty safe to predict that the USA, China and Serbia are going to beat France, a team that got in only because it’s the host country. In this new format, the top two teams in the three pools plus the highest-ranked third-place teams get through to the quarterfinals.
So the matches against China and Serbia are paramount.
The USA won gold in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and much of that team comprises this roster, including veteran outside Jordan Larson.
“It’s obviously important to get off to a good start against China,” Larson said. “We’re excited to get started and gearing up to start off strong.”
When last seen, the USA was coming off a 5-7, disappointing finish in Volleyball Nations League.
“We certainly would have liked to have played better but unfortunately never got to play the same lineup one time or in two matches consecutively,” Kiraly said. “We finally got to do that during the Netherlands series, so we are getting there.”
The Americans played three exhibition matches with the Dutch earlier this month in Long Beach and dominated (The Netherlands are in a pool with Türkiye (that match opens play Monday at Arena Paris Sud 1), Italy and the Dominican Republic).
The biggest concern for the Americans has been health. So many of them have dealt with injuries this summer.
“People are getting to a much better spot health-wise, but it’s been a lot of work, certainly a lot of work for our primary medical care provider, Kara Kessans, who is our doctor of physical therapy and who is also a certified athletic trainer and she does amazing…
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