Olympic volleyball results 2016: United States picks up win on exciting Day 1

The first day of women’s volleyball at the 2016 Rio Olympics was very exciting, with one major upset and a couple big matchups. The biggest news of the day was the thrilling five-set match between the Netherlands and China.

That match saw the Netherlands take the first set, before dropping the next two. They battled back to take down China in the fifth and final set, scoring an upset. China was one of the gold medal favorites in the sport, while the Netherlands team ranked 11th in the world going into the Olympics.

Puerto Rico fought hard in their match against the United States, but ultimately lost in straight sets. The US team didn’t play mistake-free ball, and may have made it closer than it needed to be. The United States won the match, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17. They will next play on Monday afternoon against the Netherlands team.

Japan took their first set against South Korea in their match on Saturday, but South Korea stormed back to win the next three sets in mostly-dominant fashion, 25-15, 25-17, 25-21. Brazil also advanced, taking down Cameroon in straight sets and without looking beatable, winning 25-14, 25-21, 25-13. Brazil is the second-ranked team in the world, while Cameroon was the No. 28 team, so it wasn’t exactly surprising.

In the penultimate match on the day, Russia cruised past Argentina in straight sets, 25-13, 25-10, 25-16.

The final match of the opening day saw Serbia take on Italy. In that match, it was Serbia who came out on top. It was closely contested in the first set, but Serbia looked more and more in control as the match went on, at least until they hit 20 points in the third set. They led by six points at one point in the third set, but Italy brought it back and scored 23 points. Serbia barely held on to seal it in three sets, winning overall 27-25, 25-20, 25-23.