30/07/2012 22:00
Four teams remain undefeated in women's Olympic tournament
2012 Olympic Games
London, Great Britain, July 31,
2012. The festival of women’s Olympic volleyball continued on Monday at
Earls Court with world champions Russia and Italy in Pool A and United
States and China in Pool B as the undefeated sides at the conclusion of
two days of action.
The most memorable fact of the
day was the victory achieved by Great Britain in five-sets over Algeria,
their first ever win in Olympic volleyball.
Russia had to battle to defeat
Dominican Republic in four sets and Italy prevailed in a well fought
four-set match against Japan. On the other hand, USA defeated Brazil and
China downed Turkey also in four frames.
The individual highlights were
topped by the 34-point performance ok Korea’s Kim Yeon-Koung who has
scored 63 points in two matches for an average of 31.5 per match.
The women’s action resumes on
Wednesday with the following matches: Dominican Republic v Japan (9:30),
Algeria v Russia (11:30), Serbia v Turkey (14:45), Great Britain v
Italy (16:45), United States v China (20:00) and Brazil v Korea (22:00).
China v Turkey 3-1
Hui
Ruoqi nailed 21 points, including five blocks and two aces, to
contribute to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 29-31, 25-22) victory of China over
Turkey. The winners held a 17-6 advantage in the blocking category and
trailed 7-4 in the aces division. Four other Chinese players concluded
the contest with double figures in scoring as Yang Junjing uncorked 16
points with five blocks included, Wang Yimei contributed 14 and Ma
Yunwen and Zhang Lei chipped in with 12 and 10 respectively. For the
Turkey forces, Neslihan Darnel and Eda Erdem finished with 16 points
apiece and the threesome of Neriman Ozsoy, Esra Gümüs and Gözde Sonsirma
each charted 12 tallies.
Korea v Serbia 3-1
Yeon-Koung
Kim erupted for 34 points and Song-Yi Han and Hee-Jin Kim chipped in
with 12 and 11 respectively leading Korea to a 3-1 (25-12, 25-16, 16-25,
25-21) victory over Serbia in Pool B. Kim, who had scored 29 in a
losing effort against USA last Saturday, registered five blocks and one
ace to complete her remarkable performance. She was 28-for-42 in her
spike attempts for a 59.5 percentage of effectiveness. Sanja Starovic
led Serbia with 16 points followed by Milena Rasic and Ivana Djerisilo
with 11 and 10 respectively. The winners held a 13-6 advantage in
blocking while Serbia finished 5-2 ahead in the aces department. Korea
evened their win-loss record at 1-1 while Serbia dropped to 0-2.
Russia v Dominican Republic 3-1
World
champions Russia totaled 19 blocks en route to a 3-1 (25-23, 25-15,
24-26, 25-22) victory over Dominican Republic in Pool A. It was the
second triumph for the Russian team while Dominican Republic, currently
ranked No. 11, suffered their second loss. Veteran Ekaterina Gamova led
the winning side with 22 points, including a match-high six blocks.
Nataliya Goncharova added 14 while Maria Perepelkina and Maria Borisenko
each registered four blocks to go with 12 and 9 points respectively.
Dominican Bethania De la Cruz topped all the scores with 26 points,
including three blocks and two aces, and teammates Candida Arias and
Milagros Cabral finished with 17 and 16.
United States v Brazil 3-1
Destinee
Hooker and Jordan Larson combined for 41 points to lead world No. 1
United States to a 3-1 (25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21) victory over
defending champions and No. 2 Brazil in Pool B. It was the second
victory in a row for the Americans – both in four sets - valid for six
points while Brazil fell to 1-1 with just two points. Hooker concluded
the match with 23 points while Larson totaled 18 and Logan Tom added 11.
Brazil’s Sheilla Castro collected 14 points and was followed by Thaisa
Menezes with 11 and Fabiana Claudino and Paula Pequeno each with 10
points.
Italy v Japan 3-1
Italy
improved their win-loss record to 2-0 following a four-set victory
(25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-22) over an energetic Japan. The defeated
side’s mark is now at 1-1. Carolina Costagrande and Antonella Del Core
were the two main producers for the winning side with 17 and 16 points
respectively while Lucia Bosetti and Simona Gioli charted 15 apiece.
Yukiko Ebata finished with a match-high 21 points for Japan and she was
followed by Saori Kimura with 19 and Ai Otomo and Risa Shinnabe with 14
and 13 respectively. Italy held a 9-5 advantage in blocks but trailed
Japan in service aces 4-2.
Great Britain v Algeria 3-2
Great
Britain edged Algeria in five sets (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 15-8)
to claim their first ever victory in women’s Olympic volleyball on
Monday night at Earls Court. Captain Lynne Beattie was the top scorer
for the winners with 19 points, including four aces and she was followed
by Janine Sanders and Ciara Michel with 16 and 10 respectively. For
Algeria, Zohra Bensalem and Safia Boukhima each registered four aces
and15 points while Lydia Oulmou chipped in with 11 in the losing cause.
In a match plagued with unforced errors, Great Britain was benefited by
42 and gave away 35 points via mistakes.
For more information visit www.fivb.org
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