Robinson places USA one step away from Paris 2024

Defending champions the United States could be among the first national teams qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics as the Americans managed to extend their winning streak at the Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament, in Łódź, Poland, to five matches on Friday.

Following their 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18) win over Italy on the last match of the day, the reigning Olympic champions are clear at the top of the standings in Pool C with their perfect campaign of five victories and 15 points.

• Watch all the matches of the Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament on **VBTV.**

With the best two teams in the pool securing a spot at next year’s Olympics, the Americans need only a win over hosts Poland on Saturday, at 17:30 local time (15:30 UTC), to get to six victories and get out of reach for Poles, Germans and Italians, who also remain in contention – the three European sides have four wins and one loss.

Veteran outside hitter Kelsey Robinson was one of the key players in the American triumph over the Italians. Besides scoring in kills (12), blocks (three) and aces (one) in her 16-point performance, the 31-year-old outside hitter also produced a match-high 18 digs, completing a true all-around performance.

Fellow Olympic champion Jordan Thompson led the American offense again, firing 24 points with 23 kills and one block. Outside hitter Kathryn Plummer also thrived on the 'super sub' role, coming off the bench during the second set to end the match as the team's third-best scorer with 11 points.

"We practice for this every day," Plummer said. "I felt really prepared and my teammates helped me out a lot. We know a lot of these Italian players from playing with or against them in club and I just think we came in very prepared and executed our game plan very well."

On the Italian side, opposite Ekaterina Antropova, with 20 points, and team captain and outside hitter Myriam Sylla, with 17, were the most effective players.

Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournaments: schedule and results

In another match involving two contenders for the Olympic spots, Poland bounced back from a loss to Thailand to defeat Germany 3-2 (20-25, 27-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12) and maintain their hopes of qualifying.

Outside hitter Martyna Czyrnianska, who had tallied 18 points against the Asians, had another excellent performance in her first start in the tournament, delivering an impressive 27 points (21 kills, four blocks, two aces) against the Germans. Opposite Magdalena Stysiak was also very productive, with 22 points (19 kills, three blocks).

The fifth day of action in Łódź also had matches involving teams that no longer have chances of qualifying, with Colombia downing Korea 3-2 (25-12, 14-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-9) and Thailand sweeping Slovenia 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-18).

On Saturday, besides the match between Americans and Polish, Colombians will play Slovenians at 11:30 local time (09:30 UTC), Thais will meet Koreans at 14:30 local time (12:30 UTC) and Italians will battle Germans at 20:45 local time (18:45 UTC).

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Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournaments
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