China on top of Pool A after comeback win over Serbia

China came out on top of the extremely competitive Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics, overcoming the defending champions and the reigning world champions to enter the quarterfinals as one of the three top-ranked national teams in the event.

After defeating Olympic champions the United States in their debut and hosts France in the second match, the Chinese were faced with world champions Serbia on Sunday at the South Paris Arena 1 and recovered from a first-set loss to secure an important 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 29-27) victory.

With the result, the Asians ended pool play with eight points and three wins, rising above second-placed the United States, who had six, and third-placed Serbia, who secured four. All three teams will appear in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament, unlike hosts France, who played their last match on Sunday and left the event with no points earned.

With Olympic champion Zhu Ting limited to seven points, star outside hitter Li Yingying carried the Chinese offense with a team-high 28 (25 kills, two blocks, one ace). Opposite Gong Xiangyu, with 17 (15 kills, one block, one ace), and middle blocker Wang Yuanyuan, with 11 (eight kills, three blocks), also got to double digits in scoring.

"We were in a very difficult pool, as Serbia and USA are great teams and France are very strong offensively," Wang commented. "We respected each of them and just tried to do our best in each match. We're happy that we managed to win all three of them and advance. This match gave us a big boost ahead of the quarterfinals, but we know that we'll need to keep bringing our best in every match in the elimination rounds."

Serbian star opposite Tijana Bošković had her second display with 30 or more points in Paris, registering a match-high 39 (36 kills, two aces, one block), but couldn’t give her team its second victory in the event. This was the second-best scoring performance from a female player at the Games, just behind the 44 points registered by Croatian Barbara Jelić in Sydney 2000.

No other Serbian player got to double digits in scoring - middle blocker Maja Aleksić tallied nine, with four kills, four blocks and one ace.

"We were really confident we could take the match to the fifth set, but unfortunately things didn't go our way in the end," outside hitter Katarina Lazović reflected. "But I'm happy that we fought until the end. Our first set was really good and we now need to understand what happened after it and work on it for the next matches. We had some tough matches in our pool and I'm confident that will helps us get ready for the quarterfinals. We believe in ourselves."

China got the most kills (64 to 61), blocks (12 to nine) and aces (six to four), but the Asians also gave up more points in errors (20 to 18).

USA get their first sweep over France

In the other match of the day, the Americans entered the court needing to win just one set to qualify for the quarterfinals, but they did much more than that, taking the match against France 3-0 (29-27, 29-27, 25-20) to get their first-straight set victory in the pool after playing five sets against both China and Serbia.

Opposite Annie Drews, with 15 points (all in kills), middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu, with 13 (eight kills, three blocks, two aces), and outside hitter Kathryn Plummer and middle blocker Haleigh Washington, with 11 each, were all major weapons in the American offense.

“Playing the host country is always a tough battle and I thought the crowd was definitely a factor, it was a really fun environment to play,” Plummer explained. “We had big leads in the first and second sets, but they got some momentum and came back at the end. Preparing in pool for the rest of the tournament is always helpful. We played some of the top teams in our pool and we’re excited to see how it shakes out for the quarterfinals and beyond.”

Outside hitter Halimatou Bah (14 points), middle blocker Amandha Sylves (13) and opposite Lucille Gicquel (ten) were France’s top scorers in the team's last match at their home Olympics.

“I’m so proud of my team,” an emotional Sylves reacted. “Yes, we lost, but we did it in a really nice and beautiful way against the defending champions. We knew it was going to be our last match, so we had no pressure and just wanted to have fun and enjoy it. It was an amazing experience, our fans were incredible and I had goosebumps with our national anthem every day and today I couldn’t hold my tears. Playing the Olympics is great for us because we need to be in the top tournaments in the world to understand what we need to do to be among the best and next season we will play the Volleyball Nations League for a second straight season, so I believe there’s a lot of room for us to grow.”

Brazil and Poland play to be first in Pool B

Pool A will be the last to complete its pool play schedule in Paris as undefeated Brazil and Poland meet in the final match on Sunday, scheduled for 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT). Both teams won their first two matches at the Games, are guaranteed in the quarterfinals and lead the pool with six points – the winners will make it to the next round as the top duo in the pool.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

After this match, the teams will know their final positions ahead of the elimination rounds and the four quarterfinal matchups will be determined.

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