FIVB Women's Volleyball Championship: Tuesday's Pool F matches part two
The Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's Volleyball World Championship continued on Tuesday with second round matches. The top two teams from two groups will advance to the semi-finals
with a chance to compete for the championship.
Italy vs Thailand Pool F
Italy improved to 4-2 with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-19) victory over Thailand, who dropped to 1-5. Italy is currently in third place, and will need to beat Cuba in their final game, and see the USA lose
to Brazil for them to have a chance to finish in the top two.
Thailand is currently in last place in the Pool, and will need to beat the Czech Republic on Wednesday to have any chance to finish in sixth place.. The seventh and eighth position teams are eliminated
while the sixth place team goes on to compete in the semi-finals for positions 9-12.
Italy was coming off a victory against a strong American team, and they kept their momentum against the Thais. They made a mere eight errors all sets compared to Thailand’s 22. They also out-blocked Thailand
10-3.
Leading the Italians in scoring was Simona Gioli with 16 points. The top scorer for the Thais was Onuma Sittirak with 11 points.
“We learned a lot about volleyball at the world level in the game,” said Thailand’s coach, Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai. “We have a lot of work to do to get better.”
Czech Republic vs Cuba Pool F
Cuba beat the Czechs 3-1 (25-22, 28-30, 25-22, 25-23) in a close match. Cuba improved to 2-4 while the Czechs dropped to 1-5. Cuba is currently in sixth position and will need to win, and see the Dutch
and Germany lose to have any hope of moving into the top four. The Czechs will need to win and see either Cuba or the Dutch lose to move up from seventh spot.
This match was important for both teams in the standings, and the close scores reflected that. The Czechs just edged Cuba in blocks 12-11, and had 31 errors to Cuba’s 30.
Leading the Czechs in scoring were Aneta Havlickova and Helena Havelkova with 20 points apiece, while Kenia Opon Carcaces led Cuba with 22 points.
“We knew it would be a tough match because they were in the same situation as us,” said Cuba’s coach, Juan Carlos Gala. “My players were nervous the whole match but performed at the key moments. We had
some problems with our serves before the 20th point in each match, but this is not uncommon for a young team.”
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