Press release

London, Great Britain, July 28, 2012 – Team USA opened on Saturday its Olympic campaign by edging Korea 3:1. “It was a very tough game” says coach Hugh McCutcheon, “and Korea made us work a lot. We did some things pretty well but I have also seen room for improvement. Overall it was a good performance and I am evidently happy with the result because we have started with a win. The players responded well especially after dropping the third set and they turned it around in a very good way to finish it off in the fourth set”.

Team captain Lindsey Berg was also pleased with the outcome of this game: “We have seen that their best player, Kim Yeon-Koung, has the ability to take over the match and anyway Korea is a team that makes it hard for you to score. We have beaten a tough and fast team and I am really happy for that, especially for those players who were celebrating their debut at the Olympics. I think that Jordan (Larson) and Destinee (Hooker) played superbly but you know, they are so composed when they step out on the court that I even do not realize that this is their first time in the Olympic Games, they just look and appear like real vets. We have a day off to rest and regroup and get ready for the next match”.

Korean coach Kim Hyung-Sil insisted on the positives he can take from this game: “We will be trying our best to claim the next match against Serbia. We fought hard and I am not too disappointed. Our best player, Kim, was playing her first match after nursing an injury and missing the FIVB World Grand Prix. She did perform quite well, but you cannot pretend that much after the injury she had sustained. I fully trust my team and expect we can win our next game with Serbia”.

Korean captain Kim Sa-Nee concluded: “This was the first match of the tournament and we evidently felt nervous. We will try to clean up our minds, reset and get ready for our next game as we have one day to regroup and prepare to play Serbia”.


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