Great Britain’s women’s volleyball team lost their first ever match at the Olympic Games against Russia, going down 3-0 at a sold-out Earls Court.

The home team made a superb start as the team came out fighting to take the lead 8-7 in under eight minutes, accompanied by resounding cheers from the partisan crowd.

Russia’s women, captained by Maria Borisenko and standing a good head taller than their British counterparts, pulled ahead and took the first set 25-19. The world No 9 ranked Russian side then dominated the second set throughout, winning 25-10.

Two stunning spikes from Great Britain captain Lynne Beattie and an ace from Lucy Wicks helped the team fight back briefly in the third set but they were simply outclassed by the Russian side, which included star player Ekaterina Gamova, 31, one of the tallest players in the competition at 6ft 8ins who delivered a series of spikes and aces across the net.

Savanah Leaf returned to the court towards the end of the third set and injected some fresh energy into the home side, but Russia took the third set and the match 25-16.

Women’s head volleyball coach Audrey Cooper said: “I’m pleased with two out of three sets, so those two sets we’ll take forward to the next match.

A general view of play between China’s Zhang Xi and Xue Chen and Russia’s Anastasia Vasina and Anna Vozakova during the preliminary round of the Women’s Beach Volleyball at Horse Guards Parade