Rio recap: Aug. 14

This year, at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 36 past, current and future UCLA athletes will compete in Rio de Janeiro. Each day, the Daily Bruin will wrap up the different events with Bruin highlights, key performances and upcoming events.

Women’s basketball

Canada vs. Spain

Aggressive defense was a main reason why Team Canada started 3-0 in the preliminary round of the Olympics. But the same style of defense led to the Canadians’ downfall in their 73-60 loss to Spain Sunday.

Canada’s defense was formidable, holding Spain to a 35 percent mark from the field. It was shooting fouls that made the difference in this one. Canada could not keep the Spaniards off the free throw line, and they capitalized on the opportunities. Spain was 27-33 from the charity stripe, scoring 16 more free throws than Canada.

Recent UCLA graduate Nirra Fields had her best performance of the games thus far, scoring a team-high 13 points and shooting 42 percent on the day. The former women’s basketball star averaged six points a game in group play and saw an uptick in minutes during the final two contests.

The Canadians finished group play with a 3-2 record, third best in Pool B behind the United States and Spain. Fields and company will play France, who finished second in Pool A, in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

Written by Kyle Cardoza, Daily Bruin reporter

Men’s water polo
USA vs. Italy

In the last game of the Olympics for Team USA, the team ended on a high note, beating Italy 10-7.

UCLA alumnus Josh Samuels led the team with two goals along with captain Tony Azevedo, but the Americans will nonetheless be going home without a medal for the second time since they took silver in 2008.

Like most of their games in Rio de Janeiro, the Americans held their own during the first half. Italy was up by two at the end of the first, but Team USA tied it up and was only down one at halftime.

Veteran men’s senior national team goalie Merill Moses took over in the second half, and recorded six blocks to shore up USA’s defensive game. That was coupled with four unanswered offensive goals, started by Samuels’ second of the game.

Written by Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor.

Women’s volleyball
USA vs. China

Team USA kept remained undefeated Sunday with a 3-1 win over China.

Coach Karch Kiraly – a standout on the UCLA volleyball team in the ’70s and ’80s – coached the Americans to their fifth consecutive victory as the U.S. finished pool B play.

Bruin alumna Karsta Lowe only played in the first set, tallying one block and taking six swings en route to a 25-22 set loss.

The Americans came up with three straight wins after that: 25-17, 25-19 and 25-19. Nebraska alumna Jordan Larson-Burbach led the team with 16 attacking points.

Up next, Team USA will head to the quarterfinals where they’ll take on Japan, who went 2-3 in pool A play.

Written by David Gottlieb, assistant Sports editor.

Badminton

Iris Wang (USA) vs. Li Xuerui (China)

UCLA alumna Iris Wang fell to China’s Li Xeurui today in two sets, 21-16 and 21-12. Though she finished 2-1 in her preliminary group, Wang will not advance to the bracket. Her opponent, however, will, and will also get a first-round bye.

Written by Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor.