Larson Helps U.S. Women to Grand Prix Win

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Jordan Larson came off the bench, helping the U. S. Women’s National Volleyball Team overcome a two-set deficit to defeat Puerto Rico, 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-14, 15-13) on Saturday at the FIVB World Grand Prix.

The U.S. team improves to 1-1 in the first weekend of play and will face Brazil at 8 a.m. (central) Sunday morning.

Larson, who started the final three sets, totaled seven points on five kills, one block and an ace. She came up big in the fifth set, sparing a six-point run with a kill and a block, turning a 10-7 deficit into a 13-10 advantage.

The United States' Nicole Fawcett led all scorers with 27 points on a match-high 24 kills and three blocks. Kristin Richards (Orem, Utah) added 14 points on 12 kills and two blocks. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) contributed seven points on five kills, one block and one ace.

Aurea Cruz led Puerto Rico with 21 points on 17 kills, two blocks and two aces.

"We are very happy with this win, especially after our bad performance against Germany," U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said. "Puerto Rico has a good team and was really hard to beat. Now we have to start looking to Brazil. They will probably be our toughest opponent in this round."

Puerto Rico out-killed the U.S. Women 58-53, out-blocked them 14-12 and had five aces to the United States' four. But Team USA took full advantage of Puerto Rico's 37 team errors while committing only 23.