Olympic roundup: U.S. completes women’s volleyball pool play unbeaten

U.S. completes women’s volleyball pool play unbeaten

Christa Dietzen, the sparingly used 29-year-old captain of the U.S. women’s volleyball team, made the final kill of the third set and provided a big lift off the bench, helping the top-ranked Americans put themselves in prime position in this Olympic tournament by finishing 5-0 in group play. They responded from a one-set deficit to beat China 22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19 on Sunday, with the quarterfinals set to begin Tuesday at Maracanazinho arena.

American duo wins in beach volleyball

Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross are in the semifinals.

They’ll play defending world champions Agatha and Barbara on the Brazilians’ home sand to clinch a medal.

The Americans beat Australia 21-14, 21-16 on Sunday night to advance.

Walsh Jennings is going for her fourth straight Olympic gold medal, and Ross won silver in London in 2012.

Walsh turned 38 at midnight, and the U.S. fans serenaded her with “Happy Birthday” during the match.

American women roll again in hoops

Tina Charles and the rest of her U.S. teammates quickly turned Sunday’s game against China into a layup drill as the Americans continued their torrid offensive pace.

Charles scored 12 of her 18 points in the first quarter as the U.S. beat China 105-62. The Americans won their five group games by an average of 40.8 points, eclipsing the 100-point mark in four of them.

Now things get more serious as the single-elimination quarterfinals begin Tuesday with the U.S. facing Japan. Three more victories would give the Americans a sixth consecutive gold medal.

About the only thing that went wrong for the Americans Sunday happened before the game even started.

WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne was poked by Tamika Catchings’ elbow and didn’t play. She spent most of the first quarter icing her right eye.

Murray wins gold again in tennis

Second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain beat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for his second consecutive Olympic singles tennis gold medal. His 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory halted the resurgent run of the 141st-ranked del Potro, who knocked off No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round and No. 3 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Kei Nishikori gave Japan its first Olympic tennis medal in 86 years, overcoming a mid-match lull to beat 2008 champion Rafael Nadal for the bronze in men’s singles.

Kenyan marathoner sidesteps protester

Jemima Jelagat Sumgong had to evade a protester on her way to delivering Kenya’s first gold in Rio, one which may have been saved by the swift intervention of security forces with a kilometer to go in the women’s marathon. A man leapt over the railings waving a sign and two police motor bikes cut him off.

Japanese wrestler stuns world champ

Shinobu Ota of Japan stunned seven-time Greco-Roman world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Hamid Soryan of Iran 5-4. The world’s oldest sport has undergone major changes. Matches now feature two 3-minute periods with cumulative scoring instead of the old best-of-three format.

Robles gives U.S. weighlifting medal

Sarah Robles won the United States’ first weightlifting medal for 16 years Sunday with bronze in the women’s over-75- kilogram category.

Robles lifted 286 total, with 126 in the snatch and 160 in the clean and jerk.

The last U.S. medal winners in weightlifting came from women in 2000. The last U.S. men’s medals were in 1984.