Press release

London, Great Britain, August 3, 2012 – Olympic defending champions Brazil outdueled China in in a five-setter (25-16, 20-25, 25-28, 28-30, 15-10) that lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes on Friday to stay in contention in the women’s volleyball tournament of the London Olympic Games.

The Brazilians are now with a win-loss 2-2 mark and four points as each of their victories have been by score of 3-2, while China stayed with seven points and also show a 2-2 record in Pool B.

Sheila Castro and Thaisa Menezes led five Brazilians in double digits with 23 and 22 respectively with Menezes recording six blocks. Jaqueline Carvalho, Fernanda Rodrigues and Fabiana Claudino finished with 15, 14 and 13 points
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China’s Zeng Chunlei led all the players in the game with 24 points, including three blocks and one ace. Xu Yunli finished with 18 while Chu Jinling and Hui Ruoqi added 15 and 13 respectively.

The winners held an 18-8 advantage in the blocking category and trailed 4-2 in the aces.

Castro and Menezes each registered five points in the lopsided first set in favor of Brazil when China faced many difficulties with their serve-reception. Carvalho contributed four points while Hui was the lone bright point for China as the set concluded 25-16.

China recovered in the second set behind the solid blocking of Zeng and the attacks of their star player Hui. Brazil came back to tie the score at 20-all, but Hui led a late offense to put China back on the right track to take the set.

The third set was a close affair until the second technical time-out when Brazil put together a good streak led by Carvalho and Menezes, who blocked and spiked for three points apiece en route to a 25-18 for their side.

Brazil led 8-6 at the first technical time-out and increased to 16-13 with the powerful attacks of Fernanda Rodrigues. At 18-14, China shortened the distance to 18-17 with Xu scoring and blocking around a wild cross court attack by Castro. At 21-20, Brazil scored via Claudino and Carvalho for a three-point distance. China came back to tie at 24-all with Chu capping a four-point winning streak, before winning the battle 30-28 with spike and ace by Zeng.

China took a 6-4 lead only to see Brazil coming back to win the next six plays with the contribution of Claudino, Castro, Rodrigues and Carvalho combined with a couple of opponents’ errors. Menezes scored twice via spike and block and Brazil sealed the set and the match 15-10.

China's next match is against Korea, while Brazil play Serbia in another must-win match. Both matches are scheduled for Sunday 5 August.