Olympic Volleyball 2012: Women's Semifinals Preview

On Thursday the women's volleyball semifinals tips off in the 2012 Summer Olympics as favorites Brazil and the United States hope to win so a gold medal rematch sets up.

Team USA fell to Brazil 3-1 at the 2008 Beijing Games and the two countries have begun to separate themselves to another pedestal. On the contrary, South Korea and Japan look to defy the odds and spike to a monumental upset.

Japan took fifth in Beijing while South Korea failed to qualify. Ahead, though, let's briefly look at how each found their way into the semifinals and check out a quick match preview.

USA vs. South Korea, 10 a.m. ET

In group play the Americans dominated by going 5-0 and only losing two sets while winning 15.

Match 1 was against South Korea where the U.S. won 3-1 and Brazil was the only other country to take a set from Team USA. Facing the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals, the U.S. once again swept in straight sets 3-0.

As for South Korea, they responded with a big win over Serbia 3-1 after losing to the Americans. South Korea then swept Brazil 3-0 but was upset by China and Turkey 3-2. They moved to the quarterfinals, however, in having a totaled eight group points to Turkey's six.

Taking on Italy in the bracket South Korea won impressively well 3-1 to rematch the U.S.

Here, U.S.A. has to come out strong, as they did before. Going up 2-0 in the first match, the U.S. gave away the third set and then proceeded to crush in the fourth. As long as Destinee Hooker and Jordan Larson continue to spike well the Americans will win quicker points and pull away early.

South Korea, on the other hand, must get more defensive production from Han Song Yi to complement Kim Yeon Koung's overall contributions. 

Brazil vs. Japan, 2:30 p.m. ET

Brazil is quite fortunate to be in the semifinals right now. They went just 3-2 in group play and finished in fourth with seven points.

Splitting their set wins and losses 10 each, Brazil managed to upset the Russian favorites 3-2; the Russians were a perfect 5-0 through group play. This clearly displays how tough Group B was by comparison, and fortunately a 3-2 win over Turkey in the first game paid off later on.

Japan also went 3-2 in group competition and took third to qualify. Ironically enough, all three wins were 3-0 sweeps, while the losses were 3-1 to Russia and Italy. Fortunately, Japan got a beatable opponent in China for the quarterfinal round and won 3-2.

Now possessing an immense amount of confidence, Japan has the potential to upset Brazil.

Led by Yukiko Ebata and Saori Kimura, Japan can really control the net and score effectively. Against China alone, the duo combined for 63 spikes. That said, Brazil won't be a cakewalk, as they have five players capable of scoring from anywhere.

In the previous round, Brazil saw Fabiana Claudino, Thaisa Menezes, Jaqueline Carvalho, Sheilla Castro and Fernanda Rodrigues all score into double digits. If Brazil maintains this eclectic production, Japan will get isolated real quick.

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