Japan and USA the strongest teams in todays girls Volleyball competition in YOG

The Japanese revealed they had scouted Singapore's loss to Peru on Saturday and spotted a weakness in their serve. "My strategy was to hit the ball near the front court to make it difficult for them," said Chizu Ichikawa (JPN), who finished with a total of 22 points off the serve.


The USA and Belgium girls played out a highly-entertaining match, with the USA winning 3-2, 25-22, 15-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-11.

"I thought we played well as a team even though we only met each other on the way here," Lauren Teknipp from USA said. "It feels good and a lot more solid than I thought would be."

American setter Micha Hancock showed her setting skills in the five sets match agains Belgium.

"I was tense about this match,'' USA captain Samantha Cash said. "But I feel we did not play to our true potential. We could have done better."

The Belgians also thought they could have done better.


"We made too many mental mistakes," Tara Lauwers from Belgium said. "It was a stressful game."

Belgium has a 1-1 record, while the USA and Japan are both 1-0.