FIVB Women’s World Championship 2010 special: Russia vs. USA
The wonderful action of FIVB Women’s World Championship resumed after 2-day break in Tokyo, Japan. The Yoyogi National Stadium recorded spectacular semi-final matches for different positions. The top contenders of the tournament, Russia and United States
clashed in the afternoon. The defending champions Russia sparked on the scene and outplayed USA with 3-1 (25-16, 13-25, 25-19, and 25-21) victory. The four-set breath taking performance ended in Russia’s favour, while USA failed to live the dream of holding
the title trophy of World Championship.
Important Information
Fixture: Russia vs. USA Match: 93 Venue: Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan Time: 15:00 (local time) Spectators: 5’800
Overview
The top-form Russian squad opened the match with perfect serves and prolific shots. Russia played sensible game and earned the early points of the game. The strong pushes of Ekaterina Gamova worked magic for Russia, while Maria Perepelkina and Liubov Shashkova
stood in the way of American hits like a concrete wall. The good attack strategy and excellent defence enabled Russia to build a lead of 10-5. Russian spiker, Tatiana Kosheleva smashed the ball with full power of her fore-arms and extended the lead to 15-8.
The U.S. team attacked with Logan Tom who put a great effort but they trailed behind in scores’ run. Russia made the next stop at 18-13 and continued with same intensity. American blockers failed to stop the cruising spikes by Ekaterina and gave way to Russia’s
dominance. The score soared up to 22-15 and USA was drafted under tons of pressure. Russia didn’t allow them to stay on their feet and thrashed 25-16 victory in first set.
After dropping the first set, the U.S. team changed the strategy and covered the weak areas. They broke the rhythm of charged up Russians in second set and came out of blues. The good combination of Foluke Akinradewo and Desitnee Hooker enabled them to take
lead of 8-7 over Russia. They found the rare gaps in Russian court and rolled off the ball with perfect timing. Ultimately, they were able to steal points from Russia. American team jumped on 10-8 and further widened the gap of points to 15-9. The tricky bump
passes from American side earned them points and Russia suffered the set back. Maria Perepelkina of Russia actively threw her hands in air at almost every shot but it didn’t help them a lot. The U.S. score kept on rising with same speed. Russia could only
help 13 points in second set, while USA touched the finish line and levelled the game at 1-1.
The American team was back in game and opened the third set with strong serves and nice rallies. On the other hand, Russia was fired up with the loss of second set. Third set saw an exchange of missile shots from both sides. The game tied at 3-all in the
early moments. America once again took the lead and hit the scoreboard with 6-3 but Russia retaliated and levelled the game at 6-all. Third set was a complete thriller and both sides actively traded the lead. The head-to-head battle continued and finally Russia
made a difference by scoring 25-19.
The fourth decisive set started out with an early lead of Russia. The U.S. team put up great fight but failed to achieve success. Russia ended the fourth set with 25-21and marched as winners in the final of FIVB Women’s World Championship.
Top Scorer
In the top-scorer’s category, Destinee Hooker of losing-side captured the top spot by scoring 23 points. The superb hitter Ekaterina Gamova of Russia settled for the second best scorer position as she contributed valuable 22 points in her team’s score. Russia’s
Liubov shashkova and Tatinan Kosheleva helped 18 and 16 points respectively. Likewise, Jordan Larson, Foluke Akinradewo and Heather Bown of America registered 15, 12 and 10 points respectively.
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