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Olympics 2016, women’s volleyball: Time, TV schedule and live stream for quarterfinals

Are Brazil and the United States on a collision course for a gold medal rematch?

Aug 16, 2016, 11:00 AM UTC

Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Only eight teams remain in contention for the women’s volleyball gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. After Tuesday, there will only be four.

The quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament kick off Tuesday morning when South Korea and the Netherlands take the court in their quests for gold. They’ll be followed by 2012’s silver and bronze medalists, USA and Japan, respectively. Russia and Serbia will follow them before home crowd favorites and defending Olympic champions Brazil hit the floor in prime time to face China.

Team USA and Brazil appear to be on a collision course for a rematch of last year’s gold medal showdown. Each team went 5-0 in round robin group play to qualify in the top spots of the bracket. Each will kick off the tournament with what should be a tune up game against an Asian opponent that went 2-3. Now, they stand just two wins away from another battle for Olympic supremacy.

The Brazilians pulled off a significant upset in 2012 when they shocked an American team that was undefeated heading into the gold medal match. Brazil snuck into the quarterfinals with a 3-2 record that included a 3-1 loss to the U.S. but immediately made good on its opportunity by defeating a favored Russian team in five grueling sets. A 3-0 rout of Japan set up a showdown with an American team that had only lost two sets in London, but the athletic underdogs blitzed the heavy favorites to win its second straight gold medal.

That loss will weigh heavily on a USA Volleyball team that has a 2014 gold medal from the World Championships, but has never stood atop the podium at the Olympics. Their path to revenge starts with a showdown against Japan. If all goes as planned, they’ll stare down the Brazilians on Saturday with the sport’s biggest prize on the line.