The United States women's national volleyball team won three times over the weekend that placed them in contention for a spot in the FIVB Grand Prix.
The latest win came Sunday when the Americans beat the host and previously unbeaten Serbia, 25-14, 22-25, 25-17, 23-25, 15-12, in the FIVB World Grand Prix Pool F being held in Belgrade, Serbia.
Kelly Murphy scored six of her match-high 25 points in the deciding fifth set. Team captain and Stanford grad Kristin Richards Hildebrand added 11 points.
The U.S. improves to 5-1 overall with 14 points, while ninth-ranked Serbia falls to 5-1 with 16 points and in third place in World Grand Prix.
The Americans, who are in fifth place, travel to Sendai, Japan this week to face Czech Republic (2-4, 6 points) on Friday, host Japan (6-0, 17 points) on Saturday and Bulgaria (4-2, 13 points) on Sunday in Pool M, the third and final preliminary round stage of the World Grand Prix.
The top five teams in the 20-team field plus Japan advance to the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round set for Aug. 28-Sept. 1 in Sapporo, Japan.
The U.S. is now 6-2 all-time against Serbia, including three-set wins at the 2012 Olympic Games and during the third weekend of the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix. Seven of the eight matches in the all-time series have been since 2011.
The U.S. turned in a .242 hitting efficiency (57-25-132) and 43.2 kill percent as Glass provided 23 running sets on 94 set attempts and Thompson added three running sets. Kayla Banwarth, Hildebrand and Kim Hill were each credited with 11 excellent receptions. Hill charted a team-high eight digs and Hildebrand added six. Stanford grad Cassidy Lichtman entered off the bench in the final four sets.
Team USA held advantages over Serbia in kills (57-50) and aces (7-4), while Serbia held a slim 13-12 margin in blocks. The Americans benefited from 34 errors by Serbia and limited their miscues to 26. The U.S. charted a 22-19 edge in digs.
Jovana Brakocevic led Serbia with 22 points, while Brankica Mihajlovic added 20 points in the loss.
In the deciding fifth set, Serbia held a 9-8 lead before Team USA came back to open a 10-9 edge and then grabbed a 13-10 advantage with two kills from Murphy around a kill by Hildebrand. The U.S. sided out to a 15-12 victory ending on a Serbia service error.
The U.S. has won the last three FIVB World Grand Prix events and has won five titles overall (1995, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2012). The Americans will be attempting to win an unprecedented four straight titles as Brazil won three times from 2004-2006. Since 2010, the U.S. has captured every FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round gold medal and recorded a 40-5 record in the event over the last three years.
Lichtman came off the bench to score nine points on six kills, two aces and a block in Team USA's 25-12, 25-15, 25-11 win over Algeria to open the weekend.
The Americans beat the Netherlands, 25-20, 25-16, 25-12, on Saturday.
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