Reigning Olympic champions United States women's volleyball and Netherlands have played two warm-up matches, with United States winning both. In the first warm-up match, the United States and Netherlands fought hard for 5 games before narrowly winning 3-2; In the second warm-up game, two United States injured players, Plummer and Porter, made a strong comeback to help the team sweep 3-0, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-13 in three games.
After three sets, the United States and Netherlands played the fourth game in the playoffs, and the result was still the United States team. After that, the two sides will play the third friendly match in Long Beach. In this game, the United States team sent the starters Plummer and Robinson, the secondary attack Ogbogu and Washington, the receiver Drews, the second setter Porter and the libero Orantes Huang.
The biggest highlight of the game was the return of Porter and Plummer. Plummer missed the last few games of the World League due to injury and did not play in the first friendlie; Porter had previously reported that she was not recovering from an injury, so the team prepared a third and second setter in case something unexpected happened. Unexpectedly, these two main players have returned to the team one after another, and only Larsson, who was absent due to a hamstring injury, was left.
Porter is the main setter of the United States women's volleyball team, her finger strength is very strong, very suitable for passing the second and fourth positions flat, often able to do fast and steady; Plummer is the main attack of the United States team, and among these main attacks, her ability to adjust the attack is one of the best, and when the United States team does not pass in place, it needs to rely on Plummer's strong attack to ferry.
According to the schedule, the first opponent of the United States women's volleyball team is the Chinese team, if they lose 0-3, their points will be deducted 13.01 points, 1-3 losses will also be deducted 9.89 points, and in the case of a 2-3 loss, they will also reduce 6.76 points; on the contrary, a 3-0 victory over the Chinese team, the United States points will increase by 11.99 points, a 3-1 win will increase 8.86 points, and a 3-2 win will increase by 5.74 points. United States is ranked fifth in the world and China is ranked sixth in the world, with a gap of about 8 points between the two sides, and winning or losing may flip the rankings of both teams.
In addition to being linked to world rankings, winning or losing can also affect qualifying for the Olympics. Since Group A has France as a weak team, China, United States and Serbia will win, so the direct clash between China, the United States and Serbia will affect the qualification situation. The two teams of China and United States play similarly, relying on speed to contain each other's blocking and scoring, and passing and serving have become the key to the competition between the two teams of China and United States.
The Chinese women's volleyball team has a big advantage, that is, the full main lineup has not yet been unveiled. In the past against the United States women's volleyball team, Li Yingying's opposite corner was Wang Yunrui, and with Wang Yunrui's exit, Li Yingying's opposite corner became Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning or Wu Mengjie. Although Zhu Ting and Zhang Changning are veterans, United States have a thorough study of them, but in this lineup, the United States women's volleyball team is still not familiar with them, and it should be regarded as the first meeting of this cycle.
On the contrary, the semi-main lineup or full main lineup of the United States women's volleyball team has played against the Chinese women's volleyball team, on the one hand, it knows the roots, and on the other hand, it is half-understood, of course, the "half-understood" team will be more mysterious, and the Chinese team can rely on this mystery to win first.