The Dutch and Americans open the second round of FIVB Women’s World Championship with brilliant victories
It’s been two days since the first preliminary round of the FIVB Women’s World Championship rounded off with final rankings. The better teams survived, while the low performance squads being separated from the winners. The U.S. team started the campaign
in Pool C along with teams from Germany, Cuba, Thailand, Croatia and Kazakhstan. After great combats and interesting encounters, USA finished in the top-slot and paved its way to Pool F of the second round. The FIVB Grand Prix winning U.S. team are top contenders
for the title win at the Women’s World Championship 2010. They have demonstrated a flawless performance so far and continued with success in the second round. They thrashed a straight sets victory over the Czech Republic in the second round opener.
Likewise, the Dutch squad from the Netherlands proved themselves in the Pool B of the FIVB Women’s World Championship and qualified for the second round of the tournament. Netherlands was grouped with Brazil, Italy, Czech Republic, Puerto Rico and Kenya.
They finished the first round with a score of 4-1 and joined Pool F for the second round competitions. The Dutch team also created a lot of spark in their second round opening match and dismissed the Caribbean ladies from Cuba after a 4 set game.
USA vs. Czech Republic 3-0 (25-20, 25-20 and 25-13)
It was the first meeting of these two teams as they came from different pools of the first round. The match was organised in Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan today (Saturday) at 01:30 pm. (local time). The totally sold out arena echoed with happy slogans
on every shot, which added great flavours to the game.
USA’s Destinee Hooker opened the match with a powerful serve and a great combat started. The early phase of the game saw both teams settling down in their shoes. The U.S. team was quick to grasp the game-plan and worked out nice rallies. The Czech ladies
also seemed prepared for the showdown and defended well. Logan Tom and Destinee Hooker of America formed a great combination and added quick scores for USA. Czech Republic’s Ivana Plchotova added good points for her team as well by producing great line-shots.
However, the U.S. team proved to be better and secured the first set at 25-20.
The following set also brought better luck for the Americans. The good defence of Heather Bown and ultimate spiking of Logan Tom enabled USA to repeat their previous score of 25-20 in the second set. Czech Republic lost momentum in the third set and really
slowed down. The charged-up Americans rocked the podium with stellar performance and finished the third set at 25-13. The U.S. team won the first match of the second round with a good margin.
The Netherlands vs. Cuba 3-1 (25-12, 22-25, 25-12 and 25-20)
The second encounter of the day brought the Dutch and Cuban teams to the court. Cuba had a good record of victories in South-American tournaments and finished third in the first round of FIVB Women’s World Championship. On the other hand, the Netherlands’
team was ready to launch their authority on the Cuban team. The match opened with fast pace and Dutch spikers dominated.
Manon Flier of the Netherlands produced unstoppable shots, which cruised past the legs of Cuban defenders and thus promptly scored points for her team. The hard-hitting of the Dutch team allowed them to take control of operations in the game. They easily
clinched a victory in the first set with a score of 25-12. The fired-up Cuban team followed a different approach in the second set. They paid more attention to their defence line and controlled their reception errors. The Dutch hitters tried to put pressure
on Cuba but they resisted strongly. Lo and behold, Cuba picked up a lead in the game and posted 25-22 to take revenge from the Dutch team.
It was indeed a great come-back from the Cuban ladies but they couldn’t keep the same level of energy in the following two sets and gave way to a Netherlands victory. The Dutch team posted 25-12 and 25-20 in the final two sets of the game and clipped a match
victory.
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