PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Defending champions the United States swept past Poland 3-0 here on Tuesday to join Türkiye, Italy and Brazil in the women's volleyball semifinals at the Paris Games.
Andrea Drews had 13 points, while Kathryn Plummer and Avery Skinner added 12 apiece as the U.S. clinched a 25-22, 25-14, 25-20 win inside 73 minutes.
"Things are coming together, we were hoping to put together a solid, consistent game. It was a real team win," said U.S. coach Karch Kiraly. "We have had a lot of health challenges this season, so to get out of there in three instead of four and five [sets] is something big."
Earlier on Tuesday, Türkiye beat China in a five-set thriller. Melissa Teresa Vargas scored 42 points to lead Turkey to a hard-fought 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12 victory.
It was tied at 11-11 in the fifth set before a smash by Vargas and a spiking error from Wu Mengjie of China allowed Türkiye into a 13-11 lead. Gong Xiangyu had a smash to put China back to 13-12, but another kill from Vargas and smart play from Elif Sahin, who replaced injured starter Cansu Ozbay in the last three sets, sealed the victory for Turkey.
"Vargas played a great game. We tried our best to stop her, but could not do that well enough," said China coach Cai Bin.
In Tuesday's other action, Italy eliminated reigning world champions Serbia 26-24, 25-20, 25-20 while Brazil overwhelmed the Dominican Republic 25-22, 25-13, 25-17.
The United States will now face Brazil in Thursday's semifinal, while Italy are to meet Türkiye.
