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PARIS — The U.S. women's volleyball team had a bad enough start in its Olympic title defense. They managed to keep it from turning into a disaster. The Americans lost the first two sets to China in a pool play format where total points and sets won can become playoff tiebreakers. So China's eventual five-set victory left the reigning champions with a sense of relief. Both teams scored the same number of points. The Americans return to the court on Wednesday against Serbia.
