Australia sweeps Sri Lanka in Pool F match of 16th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship
The Australians were able to make a clean sweep over Sri Lanka on September 25 in a Pool F contest of the 16th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship that is being staged in Tehran, Iran. The match was played as a 1 to 8 classification round of the tournament
at Azadi Hall No.1.
The Sri Lankans experienced an early loss during the first set of the game that took away their key defence player, J.A.C. Madushanka, due to an injury. The loss of Madushanka played an important role in an overpowering three sets win that the Australians
were able to pull off. By the time that the day was done, the final set scores stood at the following figures: 25-16, 25-19 and 25-13.
The absence of Madushanka weakened the defence of the Sri Lankans that made it easy for the Australian attack to do their jobs and land the ball home. Furthermore, the morale of the Sri Lankans experienced a downfall because of which their attack could not
do as good a job as it normally would have.
The first set of the match started off with an Australian lead at 6-1 that got the Sri Lankans under pressure. As the match progressed, the loss of Madushanka affected the game of the Sri Lankans considerably and they could not do much except trail behind
as the Australians sailed smoothly towards a first set win at 25-16.
The Sri Lankans changed their lineup in the second set as the loss of Madushanka had to be compensated. The change affected the Sri Lankans positively as they were able to step up their game. The Australians fell to making errors both in the defence and
offense department that got the Sri Lankans back into the game. Before long, the Sri Lankans were leading the second set at 10-9. The squad exhibited some outstanding digs that saved important points while the Australians were able to keep their rivals at
bay by producing some well performed blocks.
However, as the match progressed, the Sri Lankans gradually fell behind and the Australians increased their attacking intensity to speed on ahead and take the second set at 25-19.
Winning the first two sets of the game did not help the Sri Lankan morale. As a result, Australia was able to capitalise on the momentum and smother the Sri Lankans by taking the lead and not letting go of it until the very end. Therefore, the Sri Lankans
lost the match as Australia bagged the third and final set of the game at 25-13.
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