Austria tops Azerbaijan in Pool D of 2012 CEV Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship
In the last match of the 2nd round openers of 2012 CEV Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship on Wednesday, Austria met Azerbaijan.
The match was incredibly close from the very beginning to the final whistle of referee. However, Austria emerged as better team with final score of 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-21).
Azerbaijan had problem in reception, which caused the damage. Austria, on the other hand, took full advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses and bagged first win of the round. The mentor of winning squad, Li Qing, disclosed his thoughts after the match.
He stated, “We didn’t expect this result; we just believed that we can go for it. We were fully focused on our play. All sets were very close, but I think we showed more fighting spirit today.”
Ursula EHRHART of Austria staged an eye-catching action on the net and scored match-high 18 points. Aliaksandra PRUPAS of Azerbaijan proved the metal of her forearms and added match-high 11 spikes in the match, while her teammate Victoriya GALUSHKO came
on top with most number of aces.
GALUSHKO added three aces in the match. Austrian Monika BAUER grabbed attention on account of 36% accuracy in reception. She handled some of the tricky shots and passes from the Azerbaijani attackers.
Austria came out firing in the opening set and promptly went up on the scoreboard. They formed good combinations and kept a nice balance in attack and defence. With better game strategy, they managed to create a good impression on the minds of their Azerbaijani
counterparts. Austria controlled the action in first half of the opening set but resilient rival Azerbaijan remained at close distance. They continued with their efforts to break the tempo of Austrian players and there were actually moments when Azerbaijan
came really close to Austria. Nonetheless, Azerbaijan traded lead with Austria for only one time in the first set. Austria showed great consistency in serve, attack, and defence, and closed the opening set at 25-23.
The second set of the match unfolded similar story. Austria started out well, while Azerbaijan looked for ways to down the pumped-up Austrian squad. The two sides exchanged long rallies and jumped on every little opportunity to score points. Austria continued
with its winning ways and dragged Azerbaijan under pressure. The Azerbaijani defensive expert seemed disturbed by accurate shots of Austrian hitters.
Most of the Austrian attack attempts worked out and benefitted the team. Austria successfully extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set with three points 25-22.
Azerbaijan was deep down in trouble with loss of two sets. They could not recover from the shock in third set either and appeared irresistible to Austrian team, which finished the final set of the game at 25-21 and announced match victory.
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