RIO DE JANEIRO: Fist-pumping Netherlands coach Giovanni Guidetti found himself apologizing that he is already hoarse on Day 1 of the Olympic volleyball tournament.
For good reason, too.
His upstart Netherlands team, back in the Olympics for the first time in 20 years, pulled off the first upset on the women's side Saturday by beating medal favorite and third-ranked China in five sets, 25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-13, at Maracanazinho arena.
"I have no voice after the first match. I don't know how I can keep going in the tournament," Guidetti joked.
When the upset was in, the Dutch jumped and hugged. Netherlands outside hitter Celeste Plak lifted one staff member into the air in a celebratory embrace.
"This was really unbelievable, incredible," Plak said. "This shows that we can fight if we are down. China is a very strong volleyball country. Our last success was in 1996 in volleyball. Now it's our time to let people know we are Holland and we are back now."
Next up for the Netherlands will be another tough pool-play opponent for the Dutch: A matchup with the top-ranked American women on Monday.
The Dutch know their challenge is to get out of pool play.
"We want to make something extraordinary, not something ordinary," Guidetti said. "Our fighting spirit today was the key that we won."
Debby Stam-Pilon and Laura Dijkema pumped their arms and cheered at every chance when successful against world power and China, one of the three favorites for gold playing in succession
Saturday — ahead of Brazil and the United States. The top-ranked Americans and China are striving to take down two-time defending champion Brazil on home soil.
For China, Lang Ping must get her women to regroup in a hurry.
"We need to play with more consistency. They are learning," she said. "I believe they're not going to have only one Olympics, they will have more, so hopefully they can collect more experience."
South Korea topped Japan in four sets to kick off the day.