Japan advanced to the Olympic men's volleyball quarterfinals despite a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19) loss to the United States in their final Pool C match on Friday, August 2, in South Paris Arena 1.
Needing to win just one set to qualify for the final eight of the tournament, Japan did that in the third set.
While qualifying for the quarters as one of the top third-place teams is good news, Japan's results in the pool stage (just four points) were less than encouraging. Japan started off with a five-set loss to Germany, then beat Argentina in four sets, before the defeat to Team USA.
The scores in the three sets Japan lost against the Americans are definitely a cause for concern. Japan came into the Olympics as the second-ranked team in the world, but has slid to No 6 following pool play.
Japan had problems penetrating the blocks of the taller US squad throughout the contest. Team USA finished the pool in first place with eight points.
Matthew Anderson led the US with 16 points in the win, while Torey Defalco and Taylor Averill added 14 points each.
Yuji Nishida was the top scorer for Japan with a match-high 18 points, while Ran Takahashi added nine points.
Volleyball Standout Ishikawa Not at His Best
Japan star Yuki Ishikawa, showing signs of fatigue, only played primarily in the first two sets of the loss.
"Their serves were good and their blocking defense was very effective too," Ishikawa noted. "The next is the all-important game, one defeat and we are out. We will prepare to grind out a win."
With one day remaining in pool play, Japan will await the results to find out who it will play in the quarterfinals.
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
