brazil woman team
Italy and Russia defeated their opponents and both of these teams will fight for victory in pool A.
Pool A
Russia 3 -1 Japan
Top scorers: E. Gamova 29, N. Goncharova 26, E. Estes 11; S. Sakoda 23, S. Kimura 23, K. Inoue 9
Ekaterina Gamova and Nataliya Goncharova contributed 29 and 26 points respectively leading world champions Russia to a four-set win (27-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19) over Japan in Pool A on Friday.
The victory enabled Russia to stay in first place of the group with a 4-0 win-loss record and the full 12 points. Japan dropped to a 2-2 mark and 6 points.
The Russians, who led 15-6 in blocks but trailed 10-5 in aces, also had veteran Evgenia Estes in double figures in the scores with 11 tallies.Gamova finished with five blocks and Goncharova, Estes, Maria Perepelkina, Maria Borisenko and Ilulia Merkulova had two apiece.
Saori Sakoda and Saori Kimura each finished with 23 points for the defeated side.
Great Britain 0 – 3 Dominican Rep.
Top scorers: L. Beattie 11, G. Carter 6, J. Sandell 6; B. De la Cruz 12, P. Rivera 10, M Cabral 9
The Dominican Republic claimed their first win of the Olympic tournament by edging the hosts of Great Britain in straight sets (25-9, 25-18, and 25-19) in what was a sort of last call to remain in contention for a spot in the 1/4 finals coming up next week at Earls Court.
Bethania De La Cruz paced the side from the Caribbean with 12 points with Prisilla Rivera also finishing in double figures with 10. GB captain Lynne Beattie registered a match-high of 11 points. The Dominican Republic killed a total of 13 blocks vs. only 3 for Team GB in what was the first match in history opposing these teams.
With the Dominican Republic having to play Algeria in the last round of the prelims on Sunday and GB set to take on Japan, the chances of the hosts to make it to the 1/4 finals look – unfortunately for the local, very passionate fans – quite minimized.
Algeria 0 – 3 Italy
Top scorers: Z. Bensalem 13, L. Oulmou 9, S. Boukhima 3, A. Del Core 13, V. Arrighetti 10, S. Gioli 9
Last match of Friday at Earls Court saw Italy crushing Algeria in straight-sets (25-11, 25-12, 25-17) to stay undefeated in four outings in the women’s tournament of the Olympic Games while the losers fell to a 0-4 record.
Italy and Russia continue to share the top position in Pool A and will meet in a decisive match next Sunday while Algeria close their Olympic tour with a match against Dominican Republic.
Antonella Del Core and Valentina Arrighetti led Italy with 13 and 10 points respectively. Simona Gioli finished with 9 while Carolina Costagrande and Francesca Piccinini, who only played in the third set, each had eight.
Zohra Bensalem and Lydia Olmou were the top scorers for Algeria with 13 and 9 points respectively.
The winners outclassed their opponents in blocks (8-1) and also in service winners (8-2).
Standings
Russia Pts 12
Italy Pts 12
Japan Pts 6
Dominican Rep. Pts 6
Great Britain Pts 2
Algeria Pts 0
Pool B
Brazil 3 – 2 China
Top scorers: Sheilla C. 23, Thaisa M. 22, Fegaray 14; C. Zeng 24, Y. Xu 18, J. Chu 15
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.
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 ace
Brazil still can qualify to quarterfinals, however, have to expect that Turkey will be beaten by USA in the last round.
Turkey 3 – 2 Korea
Top scorers: N. Darnel 27, G. Sonsirma 13, E. Gumus 12; Y-K. Kim 21, H-J Kim 13, H-J Yung 7
Turkey claimed their second win of the tournament on Friday as Neslihan Darnel anchored her side to a 3-2 win (25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12) over Korea to improve their record to 2 wins and 2 losses so far in the competition. Korea has got similar figures and hence the fifth and last round of action coming up on Sunday will determine the final standings of the group as well as the composition of the 1/4 finals. Darnel scored 27 points for Turkey well supported by Gözde Sonsirma and captain Esra Gümüs with 13 and 12 respectively while Korea’s scoring machine Kim Yeon-Koung chartered “only” 21.
Neither Turkey nor Korea can be sure qualification to play-offs. In order to it would happen, Turkey have to win a match with USA or expect that Brazil will not beat Serbia. Korea need to win at least two sets in the match against China or Turkey will not gain points with USA or hope the other ‘Turkish’ condition must be come up.
USA 3 – 0 Serbia
Top scorers: D. Hooker 19. L. Tom 12, F. Akinradewo 11; B. Mihajlovic 13, M. Rasic 8, J. Brakocevic 8
USA cruised to a straight-set victory (25-17, 25-20, 25-16) over Serbia in 1 hour and 12 minutes to continue undefeated in Pool B with 12 points and a win-loss record of 4-0. The Serbians are still looking for their first victory in the tournament.
The Americans, who only committed 8 unforced errors for the whole match, outblocked Serbia 15-3 and served 3 aces to 1 from the defeated side.
Destinee Hooker once again topped USA in the score charts with 19 points, including 6 blocks, while Foluke Akinradewo had five blocks among her 11 points and veteran Logan Tom contributed 12 points.
Serbia’s Brankica Mihajlovic finished with 13 points as the best for the losers while Jovana Brankocevic and Milena Rasic each finished with 8.
Standings
USA Pts 12
Korea Pts 7
China Pts 7
Turkey Pts 6
Brazil Pts 4
Serbia Pts 0
All the results from Olympic matches can be found here:
Volleyball – Men Volleyball – Women
