by Alex Hoad at the ExCeL Arena

Claire Harvey said it 'was always going to be tough' taking on sitting volleyball powerhouses the Netherlands after suffering a straight sets defeat on Saturday evening.

GB battled hard against vastly more experienced opponents, who won bronze four years ago, but eventually went down 25-13, 25-12, 25-15.

The mum-of-two, from Ashford, said: "It was a good game. Holland won the bronze in Beijing, they have been through this cycle three or four times.

"They are very experienced and we play them quite often so they know us very well.

"It was always going to be tough. We tried some things, took a lot of risks and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t.

"We had moments when we showed we have a lot of potential."

After their opening game defeat against Ukraine, GB are playing for pride against Japan on Sunday night (7pm).

Harvey, who was raised in Gillingham and once played for Medway RFC, said: "We’re going to work hard tonight to put things together for tomorrow’s game against Japan.

"Ukraine and Holland are very similar but Japan are a very different entity, they defend a lot, they are very mobile, they’re not particularly tall players so we won’t have the big blocks to contend with like we did today.

"We’ve got to be really awake so it’s going to be an early night tonight."

GB were roared on by some 7,000 fans in the boisterous South Hall 2 here at ExCeL and Harvey revealed: "The crowd were absolutely brilliant and I can’t explain the job that they do in lifting us.

"You hear them go and it gives you the extra lift to go for that ball.

"Holland always bring a lot of loud supporters and I think the GB supporters did us proud today - they definitely won the competition off the court."