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Women's volleyball face USA tonight

Friday, 15th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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China women's volleyball team is 2-1 heading into tonight's 8:00 p.m. game against the United States. Earlier in the tournament, China beat Venezuela (3-0) and Poland (3-1) as expected, before losing a close one to Cuba (3-2). The last three sets, all won by Cuba, were each decided by only two points.

In its match against the USA tonight, China faces coach Lang Ping, a key player on China's 1984 gold medal-winning team. She is known in the United States as "Jenny," and despite leaving China to coach one of its volleyball rivals, remains beloved on the mainland.

A win tonight against the Americans or Sunday against Japan would clinch China's spot in the next round. China hopes a little home advantage in these Olympics will help it repeat its Athens gold medal performance, but competition is fierce this time around, with Brazil as the favorite and five other teams seriously challenging for medals. Olympic volleyball, like basketball, begins with two six-team pools, whittled down to an eight-team playoff after each team plays five games.

Here are China's leaders in four statistical categories over three games (more stats available here):

Spikes
1. Wang Yimei – 39
2. Zhou Suhong – 24
3. Ma Yunwen – 24

Kill blocks
1. Ma Yunwen – 11
2. Zhao Ruirui – 7
3. Feng Kun – 4

Aces
1. Zhou Suhong – 7
2. Ma Yunwen – 5
3. Zhao Ruirui - 3

Digs
1. Zhang Na - 41
2. Zhou Suhong – 36
3. Feng Kun - 18

Image: BOCOG

Tags: Beijing Olympics, Olympics, volleyball, Zhao Ruirui

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