Olympics volleyball: Great Britain hammered by Australia

GB volleyball were beaten by Australia

Great Britain's men's volleyball team were hammered 3-0 by Australia as they slipped to their second successive defeat of the Olympic tournament.

Australia's aggressive serving proved too much for GB, as their rivals raced into an 8-1 first-set lead.

They never recovered, losing the set 25-15, before better showings in the second (25-18) and third (25-20).

Thomas Edgar top-scored for the Aussies with 13 points, and the impressive Igor Yudin scored 10.

Mark McGivern contributed seven spikes for his side, but they were outclassed by a physical Australian team.

"We cannot handle the pressure," said Britain's Dutch coach Harry Brokking. "We were focusing on the first two matches and hoping to get results.

"They put us under pressure with their jump serves. We couldn't handle it and we couldn't get our rhythm. We fight, but we don't have the experience to fight."

Britain are the only team in Group A not to record a win after two matches, and they face Italy, who beat Argentina 3-1, in their next game on Thursday (22:00 BST).

In the other game in the group, Bulgaria went clear at the top after defeating World League champions Poland 3-1.

In Group B, the United States enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win against Germany, to go level at the top with world number one-ranked Brazil, who beat world champions Russia 3-0. Serbia eased to a 3-1 victory over Tunisia.