Press release

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 3, Turkey 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 Neriman Oszoy, Esra Gumus and Gozde Sonsirma each charted 12 tallies.

Korea 3, Serbia 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 3, Dominican Republic 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 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.

United States 3, Brazil 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 Sheila Castro collected 14 points and was followed by Thaisa Menezes with 11 and Fabiana Claudino and Paula Pequeno each with 10 points.

Italy 3, Japan 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 3, Algeria 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.

Highest Scorers day- by- day
29 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v United States (28-7-12)
34 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v Serbia (30-7-12)

Top- Scoring Performances
34 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v Serbia (30-7-12)
29 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v United States (28-7-12)
26 – Bethania De La Cruz of Dominican Republic v Russia (30-7-12)
23 – Destinee Hooker of United States v Brazil (30-7-12)
22 – Ekaterina Gamova of Russia v Dominican Republic (30-7-12)

Top- Blocking Performances
7 – Xu Yunli of China v Serbia (28-7-12)
6 – Simona Gioli of Italy v Dominican Republic (28-7-12)
6 – Foluke Akinradewo of United States v Korea (28-7-12)
6 – Ekaterina Gamova ov Russia v Dominican Republic (30-7-12)
5 – Hui Ruoqi of China v Turkey (30-7-12)
5 – Yang Junjing of China v Turkey (30-7-12)
5 – Eda Erdem of Turkey v China (30-7-12)

Top-Serving Performances
4 – Lynne Beattie of Great Britain v Algeria (30-7-12)
4 – Sheryne Hennaqui of Algeria v Great Britain (30-7-12)
4 – Safia Boukhima of Algeria v Great Britain (30-7-12)
3– Erika Araki of Japan v Algeria (28-7-12)
3 – Hui Ruoqi of China v Serbia (28-7-12)

Highest Set Score:
31-29 – Turkey v China (Set 3) on 30-7-12

Highest Scoring Matches
214 – Brazil d Turkey 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-12) on 28-7-12
206 – Great Britain v Algeria 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 15-8) on 30-7-12