Egypt mark second win of tournament against Puerto Rico for 15th place finish
The 15th-position match of the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship featured teams from Egypt and Puerto Rico. The fixture was played at Caio Martins gymnasium in Niteroi, Brazil on Tuesday, August 9. Egypt proved to be the better team and
dug up success by posting 3-1 (17-25, 25-14, 25-23, and 25-21) on the board. It was the last match of final round for Egypt and Puerto Rico. Both teams settled down in the 15th and 16th slots, respectively. It was the second win for Egypt
in the tournament, while Puerto Rico received its seventh defeat.
Puerto Rico could not win the match but it had the honour of having the top-scorer of the match. Steven Morales of Puerto Rico staged a tactful play and contributed a match-high 24 points. Egypt’s Moustafa Idris followed him up with 17 which included 14
attacks and 3 blocks. The Egyptian team was enormously supported by their opponents as they gave 33 points away on errors. The Egyptian team also let slip 17 points on errors.
The start of the game was pretty solid for Puerto Rico. They served with great accuracy and the outside hitters did a great job at poking the shots in right area. As a result, Puerto Rico built a strong lead of 6-1. On the other side of the net, Egyptian
players spent a little time on the court and grasped the game plan of opponents. Moustafa Idris, the skipper of Egyptian team formed good combinations and tried to chase the score. The gap of points squeezed at first technical timeout but Puerto Rico was still
in commanding position. They continued with success and secured opening set, while Egypt could only reach the score of 17.
After dropping the first set, Egypt hit back strongly. The better attack and defence strategy enabled them to go up on the scoreboard. Puerto Rican side lagged behind with a difference of four points at the first technical break (8-4). Puerto Ricans tried
to regain the control of operations but most of their effort went futile. Mohamed Ei Askolany put up his hands at almost every attack attempt from Puerto Ricans and stopped them right away. Egypt continued with better score and quickly covered the length of
second set. Puerto Rico could only build a score of 14, which was not enough to save them from defeat.
Egypt fully recovered and enjoyed a great form in third set. Puerto Rico was dragged under pressure and fell victim to the hard spiking of Africans. Egypt progressed with 8-5 at the FTT and moved to 11-9 in few minutes. Puerto Rico came really close to Egypt
at 12-11 but failed to surpass. A tie of scores at 19-all was an interesting twist in the match but Egypt managed to get away with third set win by posting 25-23.
Fourth set turned into a ‘do or die’ situation for Puerto Rico. Egypt had attained the strong spot and it was not an easy task to break they rhythm. Long rallies were exchanged in third set and both sides worked hard to achieve the set points. Ultimately,
Egypt became successful and announced match victory.
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