Slovakia defeats Thailand 3-2 in second round: FIVB Girls Youth World Championship - Volleyball
A thrilling match took place between Slovakia and Thailand on 18th August in the Ankara Arena, Turkey, where the FIVB Girls Youth World Championship is being held. The teams belonging to Pool G provided much entertainment to the spectators as
they took the match to five long and gruelling sets. The Slovakian squad was able to emerge victorious with a 3-2 overall score.
The first set of the match was lost by Slovakia as Thailand remained dominant all through and managed a win by a significant margin. However, the Slovakians rebounded in the second set and capped off a comfortable win. The third set was dominated again by
the Thai players as they took control of the set and did not let go until the very end. The Slovakians responded by bringing the match to a tie and taking it to a decisive fifth set. The final set of the match saw sparks flying from both sides as the two teams
gave their best to win the fifth but Slovakia prevailed in securing a match win at the following final set scores: 18-25, 25-17, 16-25, 25-17 and 17-15.
Eva Kosekova, the coach of the Slovakian team expressed herself in the following words at the press conference after the match: "Both teams made very important mistakes that each team could have turned it to their advantage. It was a tie-break win. We fought
with spirit and won this match. The shows how hard match it was. We managed to win in 2 minutes.”
Whereas the Thailand coach, Jarun Niemtuptim, shared his views in the following manner after the match: “I congratulate Slovakia. We played very good today but we lost the game when the players lost their concentration at the end of the tiebreak. It was
a challenging game. It was a disappointment for us."
The start of the first set saw the Thai take the lead at 5-1 but the Slovakians closed in the gap at 8-7 as the first technical time out was reached. As the set progressed, Thailand managed to keep hold of the advantage at 20-15 that led them to a win at
25-18.
The Slovakians improved their game in the second set and came out strong but theopposition still had the lead at the first technical time out at 8-7. However, Slovakia took the lead at 16-10 and went all the way to a set win at 25-17.
The third set was tied at 9-9 but Thailand got the lead at 16-11 and stuck with it until they had bagged the set at 25-16. The fourth set was dominated by Slovakia as they took the lead at 8-5 and never looked back. The final set of the match was tough with
Thailand leading at 8-7. However, it was the Slovakians that were able to last to the end at 17-15.
With their recent win, the Slovakians are going to be aiming for the 9-12 positions in the semi-finals while the Thai team will be looking to secure the better of the 13-16 slots.
Tags: