The U.S. women's team will complete the first round of the Volleyball Nations League against the Dominican Republic in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
The Americans opened the week with a four-set win over Thailand on Wednesday, lost to China in four sets on Thursday, lost to host Brazil in four sets on Friday, and had a day off on Saturday.
Heading into Sunday, the U.S. was in 11th place. Six teams have won three games: Poland, Brazil, China, Canada, Italy, and Japan. The Dominican Republic and Netherlands have two wins and one loss, while the United States has the same record as Turkiye, Serbia, Germany and France.
After a break for the VNL men's team to play the first leg, the U.S. National Team will return to action on May 28 in Arlington, Texas for games against Canada, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkiye.
Speaking of Canada, they defeated Thailand 25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 25-17 at the Rio Olympics on Saturday, keeping their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics alive. Keira Van Ryk led Canada with 21 kills and one block. She leads the VNL with 85 points.
Former Hawaii standout Emily Maglio had 10 kills and four blocks, and BYU product Alexa Gray had one kill, one block and one ace.
Canada opened the VNL with a four-set loss to Brazil, but then dominated the Dominican Republic and defeated China in four sets.
Also on Saturday in Turkiye's Antalya, Poland crushed the Netherlands, France beat Bulgaria with four points and Italy suffered another tough loss to the home team. Ekaterina Antropova had 17 kills, 1 block, and 5 aces, and Alice DeGrady had 15 kills, 1 ace and 4 aces. block.Turkiye's Melissa Vargas had 33 kills, seven digs and one block.
In other games in Rio, China defeated Serbia with four wins and the Dominican Republic defeated South Korea by a landslide.
Sunday's schedule in Antalya included Brazil vs. Serbia, Japan vs. Poland and France vs. Turkiye.
In Rio, after the USA vs. DR match, Thailand will play against South Korea.
The U.S. men will face Poland in Antalya on Wednesday.
All matches will be available on Volleyball World TV.
