Okayama, Japan, August 31, 2015 – USA defeated Argentina 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-14) on the second day of action in the FIVB Women’s World Cup at Momotaro Arena in Okayama on Monday.
USA coach Karch Kiraly: We know each other well, Argentina and the United States; they always play hard and they play well so we knew it would be a good challenge today and it was. Our goals were to serve a lot better than we did yesterday and I think we improved in that phase of our game, and put pressure on our opponents. We wanted to be good in our transition offence and we were pretty good there, but our block and defence still have some work to go.
USA captain Christa Dietzen: I think it’s always good to play teams that we see multiple times a year, Argentina being one of them; we see them in the PanAm Cup every year. They’re a team that continues to improve. I thought our team didn’t start off as well as we wanted to; I think our rhythm was off at times and our block and defence could have been cleaner, but I thought we made the adjustments necessary. We found more of our rhythm in the third set. I think Argentina’s outside hitters use the block very well and mix up their shots and throw in some tips, and I think they used the edges of the block pretty well. As for serving, it’s something we’ve been working on. We call it ‘flean’ or flat and clean, hitting balls that are low and over the net so it gets on to the passers very quickly. I thought we made some nice upgrades in that department today.
(Re. coach Karch Kiraly): He was one of the best players in the world and he brings the mentality to our gym where we approach every day like a gold-medal match day. So we’re engaged, we’re focused and we don’t take days off, meaning we’re engaged in every play. He’s been in our shoes before so he can relate to us on a level that not many other coaches in the world can.
Argentina coach Guillermo Orduna: They are a very fast team who don’t make many mistakes and have excellent concentration, but we played well against them. We did our best and kept good positions in our rotation, but we suffered against their strong serves.
Argentina captain Emilce Sosa: This match was really tough for Argentina, but it was a really good opportunity to play against players of a really high level, as USA is the No. 1 team in the world. But Argentina also did a very good job and our play has been improving little by little and we hope we can continue to improve in our next matches. USA were fast in their play and they were difficult to block and stop their attacks. We can learn so many things from playing against them. We want to improve and get closer to their level.