Kobe, Japan, November 1, 2006 -- The United States used another five-setter to overcome the Netherlands 3-2 in the final match in Pool C on Wednesday.

After beating Kazakhstan in five sets on Tuesday, the Americans held off a fierce rally from the Dutch 25-19, 25-22, 27-29, 20-25, 15-7.

It was a close match throughout, but while the Dutch wavered at critical moments, theAmericans held firm and, in the end, ran away with the tiebreaker.

In the opening set, the scores were tied at 13 before the United States rushed out to a 17-13 lead thanks to two big spikes from Tayyiba Haneef and Heather Bown.

Nancy Metcalf was also outstanding as the American pulled away to win the set.

The second set was ultra-tight right to the end with Haneef again a major factor.

In the third set, the Dutch really dug in their heels, refusing to allow the Americans any advantage.

The Netherlands' big guns Alice Blom, Chaine Staelens and Manon Flier were consistently good and setter Riette Fledderus was outstanding.

The Americans played some brilliant defense but were up against the Dutch at their best. Libero Sarah Drury also received very well.

This was a set where every point counted. Up to 15-13 for the Netherlands, there was never more than two points in it.

But a couple of Flier monster spikes gave the Netherlands the advantage and they should have taken it home from there.

But spikes from Tayyiba Haneef and Nancy Metcalf, as well as a good block by Haneef and Danielle Scott, brought the scores to 20-20, from which point neither team gave much ground.

At 27-27, the spectacular Blom delivered a major cross-court spike and a good block by Manon and team captain Ingrid Visser finished things off and took the match to a tiebreaker.

This was heading the same way as the rest of the match as the two teams fought to 7-7, but then the Dutch crumbled as the Americans again showed their mental strength and streaked to a final-set score of 15-7 behind some supreme blocking from Scott, Haneef and Metcalf that shut the Dutch out.