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

Quest for Olympic Gold Continues on Wednesday

Four teams — the United States, China, Russia and Italy  — remain unbeaten after the first two days of women’s indoor volleyball competition in the 2012 Olympics.  Given that its next match is against Algeria, Russia is likely to stay that way, as is Italy, which takes on Great Britain on Wednesday.

For the United States and #-3 ranked China, who play each other on Wednesday (3:00 p.m. EST), it’s another thing entirely — only one will end the day with a perfect record.

The Chinese, who won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games and were bronze medal winners in 2008 in Beijing, defeated Turkey in their last match 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 29-31 and 25-22), led by 6-3 WS Wang Yimei (14 kills) and 6-2 WS Hui Ruoqi, who scored 21 points against Turkey.

This will be a real test for the Americans — China is very good and, as pointed out in an article by Kyle Brennan of nbcolympics.com, represents the last major obstacle for the U.S. women in Group B preliminary-round play.  Conversely, the United States will be China’s first opponent that is ranked in the top-five in the world.

It should be a great match, which will either solidify the leader-status of the United States, or force a re-boot.  We’re betting on the former.

2012 U.S. Women's Olympic Volleyball Team

2012 Olympics Women's Volleyball Roster - China

Cumulative Scoring - United States