July 30, 2012

Photo Gallery

Team USA victories in women's water polo and women's volleyball highlighted action for UCLA Olympians on Monday. Additionally, former UCLA club rower Silas Stafford advanced to the semifinals of the men's pairs through the repechage.

Women's Water Polo
Guided by former UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian, Team USA defeated Hungary, 14-13, in a Group A preliminary-round match at London's Water Polo Arena. While the Americans never trailed in the match, there were four ties, the last coming with 6:45 left in the third period at 8-8. Maggie Steffens scored an Olympic record-tying seven goals for the U.S., but it was former UCLA standout Courtney Mathewson who came up big when it mattered most, scoring all three USA goals in the final period, including the eventual game-winner with 1:51 remaining. Mathewson ended the match with four goals, one steal and one field block. Another Bruin all-star, Kelly Rulon, played in 28 minutes and registered a goal and two assists that helped put Team USA at 1-0 in Group A standings. They meet Spain in their next match on Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 10:20am PT.

Women's Volleyball
UCLA Hall of Fame volleyball player Karch Kiraly is an assistant coach for the U.S. women's team, which won its second-straight match to open pool play, beating Brazil in four sets. Team USA, the top-ranked team in the world, bested the second-ranked Brazilians, 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21. It was a rematch of the 2008 Gold Medal contest in Beijing, which Brazil won in four sets. The U.S. will next play China on Wednesday, Aug. 1 at Noon PT.

Rowing
Former UCLA club rower Silas Stafford advanced to the semifinals of the men's pair after he and partner Tom Peszek placed third in the repechage with a time of 6:27.41, narrowly taking the final semifinal spot over the fourth-place Hungarian team by just 0.47 seconds. The semifinal race takes place Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 3am PT.

Men's Tennis
UCLA's Jean-Julien Rojer and his partner Robin Haase of the Netherlands suffered a three-set loss in the opening round of the men's doubles competition on Monday at the All England Club in Wimbledon. The Dutch pair was beaten by India's Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.

Badminton
UCLA undergraduate student Rena Wang opened Group Play Stage (Group P) with a 2-0 defeat to No. 2 seeded Xin Wang of China on Monday, July 30 on Court 1 at Wembley Arena and has been eliminated from the tournament. Game scores were 21-8, 21-6.

London Log-In
Water Polo's Chay Lapin blogs about Team USA's pre-Olympic trip to Croatia and Hungary in Monday's London Log-In.

Coming Up Tuesday
Women's Soccer - All four Bruins will be in action as Group Play concludes. Chelsea Stewart's Canadian team plays Sweden at 6:30am PT. Live coverage on MSNBC and online. Lauren Cheney and Sydney Leroux lead the USA against North Korea at 9:15 am PT. That game will be televised live on NBC Sports Network and streamed online. UCLA sophomore Rosie White and New Zealand face Cameroon at 11:45am PT. The match can be streamed live online at NBCOlympics.com.

Men's Basketball - Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Team USA play Tunisia at 2:15 pm PT. The game will be televised live on NBC Sports Network as well as streamed online.

Men's Water Polo - Team USA, which features Adam Wright and Chay Lapin, plays Romania at 11:40am PT. Watch live online or delayed on NBC at 1:30pm.

Men's Volleyball - The USA men play Germany at 8:45am PT. UCLA head coach John Speraw is an assistant coach for the American squad. The match will be televised on NBC at 10:45am (live on East Coast and delayed on West Coast) and streamed live online at NBCOlympics.com.

Rowing - UCLA doctoral student Julie Nichols races in the women's rowing lightweight double sculls repechage for a chance to advance to the semifinals. Nichols and partner Kristin Hedstrom will race at 2:10am PT. Watch live online. NBC will have delayed coverage at 10:15am.