London, Great Britain, August 2, 2012 - World No. 15 Korea scored the biggest surprise of the women's Olympic volleyball tournament thus far by blanking defending champions and No. 2 Brazil (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) in the last match of Wednesday at Earls Court.

The victory snapped a 13-game winning streak of Brazil against Korea, who last had won a match against the super power South Americans in the 2003 FIVB World Grand Prix.

The triumph of Korea came after the 3-0 victory of United States over China to sit atop of Pool B as the only undefeated squad of the tough group. In the other match of Pool B, Turkey scored their first win by defeating Serbia 3-0.

In Pool A, world champions Russia and world cup monarchs Italy kept their perfect records at 3-0 with full 9 points following straight-set wins over Algeria and Great Britain respectively. In the other match of the group, Japan nailed an important 3-0 victory over Dominican Republic.

Friday’s schedule presents Brazil against China and Japan versus Russia in the morning session, followed by the afternoon matches of Turkey-Korea and Dominican Republic-Great Britain. The action concludes with United States playing Serbia and Algeria meeting Italy in the evening program.

Japan 3, Dominican Republic 0
The Japanese team utilized their traditional fast pace and game variety to sink winless Dominican Republic to a 0-3 record in Pool A. The Asian side claimed a straight-set (25-20, 25-19, 25-23) win to improve to 2-1 in the tournament and 11-2 lifetime, including last five matches, against the Dominican side. The defeated team hurt their chances with 22 unforced errors to only 11 by the winners. Yukiko Ebata and Saori Kimura topped the scoring charts of Japan with 14 and 13 points respectively while Ai Otomo and Mai Yamaguchi contributed 9 and 8 in the balanced offence of the Asian side. Dominican Republic’s Prisilla Rivera and Bethania De La Cruz finished with 16 and 15 respectively.

Russia 3, Algeria 0
Russia kept their win-loss record unblemished in three outings following a cruising victory in straight sets (25-7, 25-14, 25-15) victory over winless Algeria in Pool A. Liubov Shashkova led the team of coach Sergey Ovchinnikov with 12 points while Maria Perepelkina went 9-for-12 in her spike attempts to finish with 11 tallies. Nataliya Goncharova registered 10 points and Maria Borisenko contributed 9. Sakia Boukhima finished with 6 points for Algeria. In a match that lasted just 63 minutes, Russia outblocked Algeria 13-1 with Borisenko and super veteran Evgenia Estes leading the path with five and four respectively. The winning side was successful in 42 of 70 kills attempted for an average of 60 percent.

Turkey 3, Serbia 0
Neslihan Darnel and Gozde Sonsirma each registered 14 points to carry Turkey to a straight-set (25-20, 25-12, 25-21) win over Serbia in Pool B. It was Turkey’s first ever victory at the Olympics while Serbia dropped their third consecutive match. The team coached by Brazilian Marco Aurelio Motta blanked the European champions in the aces category 8-0 and held a slight margin in blocks (7-5). Neriman Ozsoy and Bahar Toksoy contributed 9 and 8 points respectively to the Turkish success with Toksoy serving for three aces. Brankica Mihajlovic was the only Serbian player to reach double figures in the charts with 10 points while Jovana Brankocevic chipped in with 9. Turkey improved to a 3-0 lifetime mark against Serbia.

Italy 3, Great Britain 0

Italy continued their victorious march by scoring a 3-0 (27-25, 25-12, 25-12) win over hosts Great Britain. The team of Massimo Barbolini overcame a British challenge in the opening set to cruise the rest of the way while improving to a 3-0 win-loss record in Pool A. The home girls are now 1-2. Carolina Costagrande, Lucia Bosetti and Simona Gioli notched 12, 11 and 10 points respectively to spearhead a balanced Italian attack that saw Antonella Del Core and Jenny Barazza contributing 9 and 8 tallies. Great Britain’s Lynne Beattie and Clara Michel finished with 11 and 10 points. Italy held advantages in blocks (10-7) and aces (6-3) and Costagrande landed 10 of her 17 spikes.

United States 3, China 0

Top world-ranked United States took sole possession of first place in Pool B following their 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 31-29) well battled triumph over No. 3 China. It was the eighth consecutive victory for USA over China who last defeated the Americans in the 2007 World Grand Prix. The Asians lead the overall head-to-head contests 32-22. The Americans, who held a 10-8 advantage in the blocking department, improved to 3-0 while China saw their record fall to 2-1. Destinee Hooker and Megan Hodge hammered 22 and 18 points respectively to top the American attack while Foluke Akinradewo and Logan Tom chipped in with 10 and 9. Zheng Chunlei had 10 for China and teammate Chu Junling added nine points.

Korea 3, Brazil 0

Emerging Korea scored a major upset by defeating Olympic defending champions in straight sets (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) in the last match of Wednesday at Earls Court. The victory earned Korea a 2-1 win-loss record in Pool B while Brazil now stand at 1-2. It was the first victory of Korea over Brazil since the 2003 World Grand Prix snapping a 13-game losing streak to the hands of the Brazilians. Once again, superstar Kim Yeon-Koung was unstoppable as she topped all the players in the match by scoring 21 points while Han Song-Yi added 16. Brazil’s Sheila Castro finished with 16 points and Fabiana Claudino and Fernanda Rodrigues each closed with 10.

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)
22 – Destinee Hooker of United States v China (1-8-12)

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)
22 – Destinee Hooker of United States v China (1-8-12)

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)
5 – Maria Borisenko of Russia v Algeria (1-8-12)
5 – Yang Junjing of China v United States (1-8-12)

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)
3 – Bahar Toksoy of Turkey v Serbia (1-8-12)

Highest Set Score:
31-29 – Turkey v China (Set 3) on 30-7-12
31-29 – United States v China (Set 3) on 1-8-12

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