Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

Morning Report

So far, the United States is living up to it’s pre-Olympics #1 World ranking, with a 3-0 record and victories over #2-ranked Brazil and #-3 ranked China (along with a 3-1 win over lightly-regarded Korea, which, it turns out, may not be so bad after all, having dispatched Brazil 3-0 on Monday).

Coming up next for the Americans is Serbia, in a match today at 3:00 p.m. EST.  Serbia stands at 0-3 after losing to Turkey in straight sets and realistically is out of the running for a medal.  Nonetheless, they are a tough team, who looked good against China in the first set of their match (winning 25-16), before the Chinese rallied to take the next three sets.

The match is available live via streaming video with certain TV/cable operators.  To check on availability for your operator, Click Here.

Below are two articles on Monday’s matches, the cumulative scoring for the USA through the first three matches, and the Serbian roster (which, if nothing else, confirms the Serbs are a very tall team).

Day 5 Review: Medal hopefuls battle for position (www.london2012.com)

The Beijing 2008 winners were low-key in edging past Turkey on Saturday night and they were beaten by the United States on Monday.  Their hopes suffered another blow today as they went down to a surprise straight-sets defeat to Republic of Korea. . . . Yeon-koung Kim [Korea’s] player of the tournament so far, scored 21 points, while Song-Yi Han weighed in with 16  for the Asian side who now look destined for the last eight.  Brazil faces China next, who were on the wrong end of a straight-sets defeat of their own against the USA.

For the complete post from www.london2012.com, Click Here.

U.S. women’s volleyball team handles China in preliminary round (www.cbssports.com) (Blame it on the Vegetables?)

“Chinese star Wang Yimei, a 6-foot-2 wing spiker known for her powerful jump serve, was coming off of surgery to repair ligament damage in her right ankle and was held out of the third set. She had six points in the match against the United States.   China, which won the bronze in Beijing, struggled going into the games, losing four straight matches at the recent FIVB World Grand Prix while resting Wang.  Chinese coach Yu Juemin caused a bit of a stir when he suggested a three-week vegetarian diet was responsible for the team’s poor showing in the tournament.  The team eschewed meat while preparing for the Grand Prix away from their usual training facility, because there were concerns about meat tainted with the chemical clenbuterol, which is illegally used to bulk up livestock and produce leaner meat.”

For the complete post from www.cbssports.com, Click Here.

Cumulative Scoring - United States

#	Name	Position	Height	Matches	Srv	Spk	Blk	Pts
2	Scott-Arruda, Danielle	MB	6-2	2	0	8	3	11
3	Haneef-Park, Tayyiba	Opp	6-7	5	0	1	2	3
4	Berg, Lindsey	S	5-8	5	1	6	0	7
5	Miyashiro, Tamari	L	5-7	5	0	0	0	0
6	Davis, Nicole	L	5-4	5	0	0	0	0
10	Larson, Jordan	OH	6-2	5	2	45	4	51
11	Hodge, Megan	OH	6-3	2	0	19	0	19
13	Harmotto, Christa	MB	6-2	5	2	20	8	30
15	Tom, Logan	OH	6-1	5	2	40	6	48
16	Akinradewo, Foluke	MB	6-3	5	1	41	15	60
17	Thompson, Courtney	S	5-8	5	0	0	0	0
19	Hooker, Destinee	Opp	6-4	5	3	87	14	104

#	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Age	Club
2	BRAKOCEVIC Jovana	WS	6-5	24	JT Marvelous
3	DJERISILO Ivana	U	6-1	28	Urbino Volley
4	ZIVKOVIC Bojana	S	6-1	24	VBC Volero Zurich
5	KRSMANOVIC Natasa	MB	6-2	27	Rabita Baku
7	MIHAJLOVIC Brankica	U	6-3	21	VBC Volero Zurich
9	VESOVIC Jovana	U	6-0	25	Tomis Constanta
10	OGNJENOVIC Maja	S	6-0	27	Liu Jo Volley Modena
11	VELJKOVIC Stefana	MB	6-3	22	Asystel Novara S.P.A.
16	RASIC Milena	MB	6-4	21	RC de Cannes
18	CEBIC Suzana	L	5-6	27	VfB 91 Suhl
19	STAROVIC Sanja	WS	6-4	29	Rabita Baku
20	BLAGOJEVIC Jelena	WS	5-11	23	Volley Urbino