The United States and China, teams hoping to make a gold medal run in women's volleyball, met in the opening round of preliminary competition yesterday, and China was up to the challenge.
Paced by the power of outside Hao Yang, the Chinese beat the Americans in four close sets, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18.
The US has a promising mix of young and old players hoping to use momentum from a fourth-place finish in Sydney in 2000.
Heather Bown's block attempt on match point fell short in the fourth and least-competitive set for the US, ending the match.
China's best middle blocker, 6-foot-5-inch Ruirui Zhao, limped off the court in the second set after reaggravating an injury to her right leg that kept her out of the World Grand Prix tournament last month. Though she didn't appear to be in serious pain, Zhao was later carried off on a gurney for further examination.
In the second set the US took 4 of the last 5 points to pull even. Olympic rookie Ogonna Nnamani, a reserve outside hitter who was an All-American at Stanford, had five kills in that set. In other matches, Germany surprised three-time defending gold medalist Cuba in five sets, and Russia breezed by the Dominican Republic in three.
Beach volleyball
Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs skipped Friday night's opening ceremonies to get some extra rest for their first beach volleyball match. It proved to be a smart decision.
McPeak and Youngs, seeded No. 4, cruised past 21st-seeded Norwegians Susanne Glesnes and Kathrine Maaseide, 21-14, 21-14, under the lights at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre.
Instead of staying up late to participate in the three-hour festivities, McPeak and Youngs turned in early after watching their opponents on TV marching in the parade of nations.
"I was like, `All right, they're going to have tired legs tomorrow,' " said McPeak, the sport's all-time winningest female player. "It was nice to get a good night's sleep while everybody else was out until 3 a.m."
The Americans kept the Norwegians off balance by attacking early in possessions -- going for points on their second shots rather than using the normal bump, set, and spike method. "It's not easy to defend. A lot of teams don't practice it," Youngs said. "It's hard to practice if you don't even do it yourself."
US 2000 gold medalists Natalie Cook and Kerri-Ann Pottharst also got off to a good start, but with different partners. Pottharst and Summer Lochowicz, the No. 18 seeds, upset the seventh-seeded Chinese duo of Jia Tian and Wang Fei, 21-18, 21-18. Cook and Nicole Sanderson, the No. 5 seeds, beat 20th-seeded Bulgarian sisters Lina and Petia Yanchulova, 21-16, 21-12.
Miscellany
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