Japan crushes Dominican Republic in Pool A of the Olympic volleyball tournament – Volleyball News
Japan women’s volleyball team overcame resilient rival Dominican Republic in a close match on Wednesday, which took place at the Earls Court in London.
Japan posted 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-23) win over Dominican Republic and improved to 2-1 in the Olympic women’s volleyball tournament. Around 9,000 spectators were reported to be present at the match venue. Dominican Republic lost its third match in a row
and dropped another chance to break the ice in the competition.
Both teams had two players, who claimed double-figure score. Japan was supported by Yukiko Ebata and Saori Kimura. They added 14 and 13 points respectively that proved beneficial for the team. On the other hand, Prisilla Rivera and Bethania De La Cruz staged
a great fight for Dominican Republic. Rivera claimed match-high 16 points whereas her teammate finished with 15 points.
The match was opened with an early exchange of powerful serves. The attackers on both sides did a great job, but Dominican Republic had some problem in reception. Due to the bad reception, Dominican Republic dropped too many shots and made it easy for Japan
to take the opening set of the match. Japanese ladies showed remarkable consistency and closed first set with five points.
Second set of the match progressed in the same fashion, where scoring remained tight and Japan enjoyed a better form. Dominican Republic used different tactics and tied the score, but failed to maintain stability. Japanese musketeers led the score and ended
second set at 25-19.
Dominican Republic played to its full potential in the third set and came from all angles. However, the charged-up Japanese captured third set with two points and settled for 3-0 victory.
Japan’s Yoshie Takeshita stated: “We felt bad after (being beaten by) Italy, but we concentrated more and played better as a team. The Games happen once every four years. We are training to target a medal, which we hope to do.”
Unfortunately we made a few errors and a few of our digs were not well done. Some of our spikes were also off. After that we adjusted, but Japan defended very well. Everything needs to be improved quickly as we play on Friday (against Great Britain). I don't
think there will be time to sleep at all,” said Prisilla Rivera of Dominican Republic.
Japanese team will be back in action on Friday, August 3. They are scheduled to meet Russia in next match, which is a big challenge for Head Coach Masayoshi Manabe’s team. Nonetheless, Team Japan is prepared for the kill and has high hopes to overcome the
Russian rivals.
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