Russia-Italy
On Tuesday, Russia will play Brazil, fourth placed in Pool B, and United States will be pitted with Dominican Republic who finished in fourth position in Pool A. Following a drawing of lots ceremony at Earls Court, it was determined that Italy will play Korea and Japan are to meet China in the other quarterfinal matches.
Russia prevailed against Italy in a five-set thrilling battle with the duo of Nataliya Goncharova and Ekaterina Gamova combining to score a total of 64 points. On the other hand, Destinee Hooker and Fioluke Akiradewo led the American win over Turkey in straight sets despite a well fought first set.
In Sunday’s action, China edged Korea in five sets, Dominican Republic and Brazil sealed their tickets to the final-eight round by defeating winless Algeria and Serbia respectively and Japan downed hosts Great Britain.
Dominican Republic 3, Algeria 0
The Dominican Republic claimed a straight-set (25-15, 25-16, 25-13) over Algeria to advance to the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games women’s volleyball tournament. As the fourth placed team in Pool A, the Dominicans will play Pool B leaders United States in one of the quarterfinals scheduled on Tuesday. It was the second victory against three losses for the Dominican side while Algeria concluded the tournament without wins in five outings. The winners held a 10-4 margin in blocks. Prisilla Rivera was the best scorer of Dominican Republic with a match-high 21 points, followed by Milagros Cabral and Gina Mambru with 14 and 12 respectively. Zhora Bensalem finished with 13 points for Algeria.
China 3, Korea 2
China edged Korea in five grueling sets (28-26, 22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10) as both teams secured berths in the quarterfinals phase of the Olympic Games women’s volleyball. China finished second in Pool B behind United States with a 3-2 mark and 9 points while Korea collected one valuable point to secure at least a fourth place with their 2-3 win-loss record and 8 points. Hui Ruoqi led five Chinese players with double digits in the scores with 20 points, followed by Chu Jinling who finished with 14. Yang Junjing and Ma Yunwen each contributed 12 tallies and Zhang Lei added 12. Korea’s Kim Yeon-Koung registered a match-high 32 points, including three blocks and two aces, and Han Song-Yi added 16. Yang Hyo-Jin and Kim Hee-Jin tallied 14 and 13 respectively with Yang totaling five blocks. The winners edged the defeated side in blocks (13-12) and service aces (7-6).
Japan 3, Great Britain 0
Japan beat Great Britain (25-19, 25-14, 25-12) as the fifth and final round of women’s volleyball preliminary matches took place at Earls Court on Sunday. Saori Kimura and Yukiko Ebata each tallied 14 points for Japan while Rina Shinnabe chipped in with 12, including three blocks. Great Britain had Lynne Beattie with 8 points as their best scorer. Both teams scored via 7 blocks and Japan served three aces to one by the home team. Japan finish third in the group and progress to the quarterfinals and their opponents will be determined by a drawing of lots upon the conclusion of tonight’s final match. Great Britain are eliminated, but can be proud of their win over Algeria in the competition.
Russia 3, Italy 2
Nataliya Gonchareva and Ekaterina Gamova collected 33 and 31 points respectively to carry Russia to a five-set (26-28, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 15-11) victory over Italy in a match between undefeated teams in Pool A in the fifth and final round of the women’s preliminary matches. Russia finished on top of the group and will play the fourth placed side in Pool B. Gonchareva had 5 blocks and three aces and the towering Gamova collected three blocks. Veteran Liubov Shashkova, who started in the last three sets, contributed 10 points to the victory. Simona Gioli had 5 blocks among her 21 points for Italy, followed by Lucia Bosetti with 19. Carolina Costagrande and Valentina Arrighetti added 13 and 12 in the losing effort.
United States 3, Turkey 0
World No. 1 United States completed a perfect tour around the preliminary round of the Olympic women’s volleyball tournament by defeating Turkey in straight sets (27-25, 25-16, 25-19) to finish atop of Pool B with a 5-0 win-loss record. The winners held an 11-6 margin in the blocking category and only committed nine unforced errors for the whole match to 18 by the Turkish team. Destinee Hooker once again was the top scorer for the American side with 19 points while Foluke Akinradewo contributed 15, including a match-high five blocks. Jordan Larson and Christa Harmotto chipped in with 9 apiece to the victory. Neriman Ozsoy and Neslihan Darnel had 14 and 11 points for Turkey while Busra Cansu notched nine.
Brazil 3, Serbia 0
Olympic defending champions Brazil cruised to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-16) victory over Serbia to complete the list of teams qualified to the quarterfinals of the women’s volleyball tournament at the London Olympic Games. The South Americans outscored the Serbians in blocks (13-2) and in aces (6-1) while committing only 10 unforced errors for the match. Thaisa Menezes paced Brazil with 14 points, including a match-high five blocks while Sheilla Castro finished with 12 points and four serving aces. Fabiana Claudino had four blocks among her 10 points and Jaqueline Carvalho chipped in with 10 tallies. Ivana Djerisilo had 11 points and Brankica Mihajlovic added 10 for Serbia.
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)
29 – Ekaterina Gamova of Russia v Japan (3-8-12)
33 – Nataliya Gonchareva of Russia v Italy (5-8-12)
Top- Scoring Performances
34 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v Serbia (30-7-12)
33 – Nataliya Gonchareva of Russia v Italy (5-8-12)
32 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v Serbia (5-8-12)
31 – Ekaterina Gamova of Russia v Italy (5-8-12)
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 of Russia v Dominican Republic (30-7-12)
6 – Thaisa Menezes of Brazil v China (3-8-12)
6 – Destinee Hooker of United States v Serbia (3-8-12)
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)
Highest Set Scores:
31-29 – Turkey v China (Set 3) on 30-7-12
31-29 – United States v China (Set 3) on 1-8-12
30-28 – China v Brazil (Set 4) on 3-8-12
Highest Scoring Matches
217 – China v Korea 3-2 (28-26, 22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10) on 5-8-12
214 – Brazil d Turkey 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-12) on 28-7-12
212 – Brazil d China 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 28-30, 15-10) on 3-8-12
212 – Russia d. Italy 3-2 (26-28, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 15-11) on 5-8-12
206 – Great Britain v Algeria 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 15-8) on 30-7-12
201 – Turkey d Korea 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12) on 3-8-12
All the results from Olympic matches can be found here:
Volleyball – Men Volleyball – Women
