Recap of Brazil vs. Argentina – 2011 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup – Final Round
Women’s national volleyball teams from Brazil and Argentina met on Wednesday, November 16, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan. It was the Final Round match of 2011 FIVB World Cup, where Brazil ousted Argentina by a 3-0 (25-20,
25-19, 25-9) victory. Brazil improved their win/loss record of 6-3, while Argentina dropped to 3-6.
Set by set review
The opening set of the match was closely contested as Argentina picked up a lead, while Brazil trailed behind. Sheilla Castro and Welissa Gonzaga formed a combo and landed some good slick shots to catch up with the opponent’ score. Meanwhile,
Argentina’s Lucia Fresco counter attacked and did not let Brazil to come up. Gradually, the game picked up more pace and both sides exchanged long rallies. Paula Pequino and Sassa got into their stride, while the margin of points narrowed. Argentina was only
one-point ahead of Brazil before Paula delivered a monstrous spike. Brazil surpassed Argentina and tried to grab the set points. Brazilian captain, Fabiana Claudio, hit the spot and closed off the first set at 25-20.
Brazil used the competitive edge and put pressure on Argentina with a 5-2 lead in the second set. They attacked from all angles and strengthened the defence. Solid blocks by Paula made it quite difficult for Argentinean players to earn
points. Nonetheless, they put up a valiant effort and tied the score at 5-5. Brazil retook the lead but Argentina remained hand-in-hand with their opponents. With quick rallies, score once again tied at 8-all. In the next few minutes, Brazil added a 5-0 run
and took the score to 13-8. It was the jumpstart for Brazil and they did not stop until the end points (25-19).
Third set was total disaster for Argentina as they could only score 9 points, while Brazil hit the mark with 25-9 victory and took away the match in straight sets.
Player contributions
Welissa “Sassa” Gonzaga of Brazil enjoyed the spotlight for being named as the Most Impressive Player of the match. She played an instrumental role in her team’s win by adding 12 points. Likewise, Thaisa Menezes and Sheilla Castro contributed
13 and 10 points, respectively. Lucia Fresco was the only Argentinean player to get into double figures with 10 points.
Post-match
“I think we played better tonight and did a very good job in blocking and defense, although not for the whole match. It was a good result for the team. We try our best every time in every tournament. We now have two games to the end and
will try to do our best against Algeria and the Dominican Republic.” said Brazilian mentor Ze Roberto.
His Argentinean counterpart, Head Coach Horacio Bastit, congratulated Brazil for putting up such a nice show of volleyball. He passed great remarks about Brazilian team; calling them a serious team that always gives the best performance.
Speaking of match, he further added: “We aimed to put pressure on Brazil with our service and we had some good moments – our defence and blocking worked well – but in the third set the gap widened and you could see the result.
Winning captain of Brazil, Fabiana Claudio, said that the whole team is focused to take full advantage of the next three matches in order to get back on track. Meanwhile, Argentinean captain Emilce Sosa regretted the loss of match. She
said they played well in the first two sets but totally lost the track in third set, which led them to failure.
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