FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championships Recap: Wednesday's Pool B matches
The first round of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's Volleyball World Championship came to an end Wednesday. Pool B saw three teams tie with 3-2 records. All three qualified for
the second round, with the point differential tiebreaker determining their order of finish.
Pool B
Puerto Rico vs Netherlands
Puerto Rico needed a convincing win to have any chance of a berth in the second round. But strong play from the Dutch was the story of the match as the Netherlands beat Puerto Rico in straight sets (25-12,
25-13, 25-16) to improve their record to 3-2. Puerto Rico, with only one win, will now go home while the Dutch will advance with a second place finish in Pool B.
Manon Flier was the top scorer for the Netherlands with 12 points, and Aurea Cruz had nine points to lead Puerto Rico.
“We played very well, very few unforced errors, maybe 4 or 5 in three sets. That’s great,” said the coach of the Netherlands, Avital Selinger. “The team played together in very good rhythm. We are always
play to our best ability, regardless of the opponent.”
Kenya vs Czech Republic
Kenya was unable to avoid going winless as they fell to the Czech Republic 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-20). The Czechs improved to 3-2 while Kenya fell to 0-5. Despite finishing with the same records, the Czechs
finished in fourth place behind Italy and the Netherlands. Kenya fought had against the Czechs, leading the first set early by a score of 16-11 before the Czech’s power overwhelmed them.
Brackcides Khadambi led Kenya with 15 points. Sarka Barborkova and Helena Havelkova led the Czech Republic with 10 points each.
“It was a good game. When we took a lead of five points, we got excited, and forgot that we still have to play and win the game,” said Khadambi. “I’d like to say thank you to the fans. I think when they
cheered us we had higher morale, and we played a little better.”
Italy vs Brazil
Italy was coming off a five-set match against the Czech Republic, and looked tired as they fell to Brazil in straight sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-7). Brazil, who had about 20,000 Brazilian-Japanese cheering
them on all match, improved to 5-0 and clinched first place, while Italy fell to 3-2 and finished in third place.
“This evening they played very, very strong,” said Massimo Barnolini, the coach of the Italian team. “They gave a lot of pressure with service, with blocking, with defence, with everything. We have played
them twice recently, and they have won both times 3-0. We now have to say that Brazil is stronger than Italy. Now we have to change absolutely our way of playing, our attitude in the court.”
Brazil (1), Netherlands (2), Italy (3), and Czech Republic (4) advance to Pool F while Puerto Rico and Kenya were eliminated.
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