FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championships Recap: Wednesday's Pool A matches
The first round Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's Volleyball World Championship was completed on Wednesday. Four teams from each of the four pools advanced to the second round while
two teams from each pool were eliminated. The host country, Japan, took first place in Pool A.
Pool A
Peru vs Costa Rica
Costa Rica would have advanced beyond the first round with a win over Peru in their final first round game, but a 3-1 (25-18, 25-18, 32-34, 25-19) victory for Peru officially eliminated Costa Rica from
the FIVB tournament, and clinched a spot for Peru in the second round. Peru finished with a 2-3 record while Costa Rica fell to 1-4.
Patricia Soto and Jessenia Uceda each had 18 points to lead Peru’s scorers, and Verania Willis led Costa Rica in points with 24.
“Today we had a clear objective — to win and qualify for the second round,” said Peru’s coach Kim Cheol Yong. “That’s why we were a little nervous, but I’m pleased with our result. We know more difficult
matches will come in the second round.”
Poland vs Algeria
Algeria was looking to avoid leaving the tournament winless, but a tough Polish team would not give an inch as they beat Algeria in straight sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-12). Poland finished in third place with
a 3-2 record, and will advance to the second round. Algeria will go home with a 0-5 record.
With Poland resting a number of their players, Aleksandra Jagielo and Katarzyna Gajgal each had 11 points to top Polish scorers. Zihra Bensalem, Faiza Tsabet, and Lydia Oulmou tied as Algeria’s top scorers
with seven points each.
“I will not deny that the aim of our game today was to win,” said Polish captain Aleksandra Jagielo. “It’s good that we won. I’m happy that girls who didn’t play before were given a chance to gain some
match experience here before the next round.”
Japan vs Serbia
Japan and Serbia came into this match with spotless records, but the Japanese proved too strong for Serbia as they came away with a 3-1 (28-26, 29-27, 18-25, 27-25) victory to finish with a 5-0 record,
Serbia dropped to 4-1. The match was expected to be an exciting one, and the two teams did not disappoint. Right from the first set the two teams exchanged the lead, and three out of four sets needed extra points to decide them.
Saori Kimura led Japan with 27 points, and Jelena Nikolic led Serbian scorers with 25.
“It’s very difficult to say something after this game that we lost 3-1, which we could have won 3-1,” said Nikolic. “Each set was decided by one or two balls. It’s painful to lose like this today, because
we played very well. We gave them some easy points, and they knew what to do with them.”
Japan (1), Serbia (2), Poland (3), and Peru (4) will all advance to Pool E. Costa Rica and Algeria did not advance.
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