The second day of the woman’s tournament brought us first confrontations at the top. Defending Olympic Champion title USA face up Brazil and Italy played against Japan. Moreover, Great Britain achieved the first victory in the volleyball elite ever.
Pool A
Dominican Republic 1 – 3 Russia
Top scorers: B. De la Cruz 26, E. Perez 17, M. Cabral 16; E. Gamova 22, N. Goncharova 14, M. Perepelkina 12
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 of the London Olympic Games women’s volleyball tournament on Monday.
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 Gonchareva 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.
Italy 3 – 1 Japan
Top scorers: C. Costagrande 17, A. Del Core 15, S. Gioli 15; Y. Ebata 21, S. Kimura 19, A. Otomo 14
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 on Monday night in front of a full house at Earls Court. 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 ans 13 respectively.
Led by the four of Gioli, Italy held a 9-5 advantage in blocks but trailed Japan in service aces 4-2.
Great Britain 3 – 2 Algeria
Top scorers: L. Beattie 19, J. Sandell 16, C. Michel 10; Z. Bensalem 15, S. Boukhima 15, L. Oulmou 11
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.
Standings
- Russia Pts 6
- Italy Pts 6
- Japan Pts 3
- Great Britain. Pts 2
- Algeria Pts 1
- Dominican Rep. Pts 0
Pool B
China 3 – 1 Turkey
Top scorers: R. Hui 21, J. Yang 16, Y. Wang 14; E. Erdem 16, N. Darnel 16, N. Ozsoy 12
Hui Ruoqi nailed 21 points, including five blocks and two aces, to spark China to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 29-31, 25-22) victory over Turkey in the second day of the women’s volleyball tournament of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
It was the second win for China in as many outings while the loss left Turkey at 0-2. 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 Oszoy, Esra Gumus and Gozde Sonsirma each charted 12 tallies.
Serbia 1 – 3 Korea
Top scorers: S. Starovic 16, M. Rasic 11, I. Djerisilo 10; Y.K Kim 34, S.J Han 12, H.J Kim 11
It is said that none player can win a match alone, however, the game denied this saying. 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 of the women’s volleyball tournament in London Olympic Games on Monday.
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.
USA 3 – 1 Brazil
Top scorers: D. Hooker 23, J. Larson 18, L. Tom 12; S. Castro 15, Thaisa 12, P. Pequeno 10
It was the match of the day , where 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 of the women’s volleyball tournament in the Olympic Games on Monday.
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 Sheila Castro collected 14 points and was followed by Thaisa Menezes with 11 and Fabiana Claudino and Paula Pequeno each with 10 points.
Standings
- China Pts 6
- USA Pts 6
- Korea Pts 3
- Brazil Pts 2
- Turkey Pts 1
- Serbia Pts 0
Source: own news/ fivb.org
