DK's Five Rings: Time for serious service

Aug 14, 2016 • 10:02 pm

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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Christa Dietzen was back on the court for the U.S. women's volleyball team she captains, and she helped the Americans to a 3-1 victory Sunday over China to close the round-robin part of the tournament atop Group B at 5-0.

After staying in her jumpsuit the previous two matches on coach Karch Kiraly's decision, Dietzen, of Hopewell and Penn State, came into the match to contribute six points, including 5 of 8 conversion on spikes and a block. That was pivotal in light of the Chinese taking the first set before it finished 22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19.

"Everyone in our lineup has made significant contributions to this 5-0," Kiraly said.

“I think we got off to a slow start,” Dietzen said. “But Karch said, ‘We have a chance to rewrite the match in the middle of the first set,' and our team responded. I think we've been able to respond well this whole tournament. We're team that handles adversity, and we've certainly faced a lot of adversity in this pool and will continue to heading into quarterfinals. We're excited to face our next opponent.”

That wasn't known at the time of the match but, by evening's end, it was Japan (3-2), the team the Americans were expecting to see, advancing in the opposite bracket by beating Argentina. Their quarterfinal will be Tuesday.

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