Joanne happy with GB’s volleyball display

The reigning world champions were always going to be a tough test for Morgan and the comparative minnows of the GB team and so it proved at Earls Court. After starting well, the GB squad quickly ran out of puff and were unable to stop the Russians inflicting a 3-0 defeat (25-19, 25-10, 25-16). But with the GB squad holding their own against a vastly more experienced Russian side, Morgan was adamant that Monday’s Pool A clash with Algeria could be a different story.

“Obviously it’s a disappointing loss but we expected a tough match because Russia are the world champions and a very experienced team,” she said. “But we proved we can compete against the best teams in the world against Russia and we should be targeting a win in our next game against Algeria.

“We went for it and took them by surprise in the first set and can take a lot of positives into the next match against Algeria. We went out all guns blazing. You are never happy with a loss, of course, but we can be very happy with what we did against Russia. The feeling of walking out into a home stadium in front of 15,000 people was amazing. You can’t describe it really and they definitely got us a few points in the game.”