DETERMINED Lucy Wicks last night refused to give up her Olympic dream without a fight.

The Poole star and her Great Britain team-mates were beaten in straight sets by the Dominican Republic at Earls Court last night, meaning they now need to beat Japan tomorrow if they are to reach the quarter-finals of the Games.

Such a result would be the equivalent of a gold medal for the self-funded squad who arrived in London with little more than a prayer, but it did not come last night, with the Dominican Republic barely putting a foot wrong.

They hardly missed a block or a spike – outscoring with 13 to three kills – with Britain guilty of being too chaotic at the net. They are still alive, though, and a win over Japan, however unlikely, would still do the trick.

Wicks, a former Parkstone Grammar pupil, said: “We didn’t get out of the starting blocks in any area of our game today. They’re a very aggressive team, they had a lot of firepower and we couldn’t get it under control.

“Coming here, no game was going to be easy for us, but we have a win under our belts and have a chance against Japan, a team we really enjoy playing, and we need to take our game to them.”

Two devastating runs contributed to the loss, with the Dominican racking up 12 points on the reel in the first set and another eight in the second. Britain were run ragged during those periods, seemingly unable to get a handle on what was coming their way.

Wicks felt they had to take risks in order to stay afloat, though, and that their plan had simply backfired.

“They put us under a lot of pressure and a lot of unforced errors appeared,” she said.

“We had to take some risks and that forces errors too, but you can’t play safe in these games. Volleyball in this country isn’t big enough for us to play safe and take on the rest of the world.

“We are a work in process and there are some good things to take out of that.

“There is still hope. We have played some of the best volleyball we have ever played.”

  • Poole’s Dan Hunter and GB’s men suffered their third defeat on Thursday night.

The 3-0 loss to Italy all but confirmed their exit from the Games ahead of today’s clash with Poland and Monday’s final pool game against Argentina.