The Outstanding Women’s Pairs at 2010 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships
The intense fury of 2010 SWATCH FIVB Women’s Youth World Championship produced stunning moments during the running week. The tournament started off with 47 women’s teams from 32 different countries and at the end of first-pool play, 23 teams were eliminated out of the game. The rest 24 teams were divided into six pools comprising of four teams in each pool. Seven teams stood at 2-0 after the first day of pool play. The Australian, German, Spanish, Russian, American, and Ukrainian teams made their mark and remained un-defeated. American and Russian teams remained most consistent, dominated all the sets and brought heavy influence into the game.
America and Russia each had two un-defeated teams in the remaining group of 24 teams. The American pair, Lara Dykstra and Rebecca Strehlow, defeated the home-ground team of Portugal and also showed the Chinese team, a way to home. On the other hand, their potential contenders in the tournament, the Australian team comprising of Taliqua Clancy and Eliza Hynes also defeated the same Chinese and Portugal teams. This was how the 24th-seeded main and second-seeded qualification American team came in a tie with the 13th-seeded Aussie team, in order to take lead in the Pool A.
The other American pair also displayed an amazing set of skills in the game. The 3rd-seeded Jane Croson and Summer Ross did a great job. They took a lead in the Pool C by conquering the teams from Austria and Italy. They lost their first set but they made a great come-back and their game rose totally out of the blues, when they managed to win the three sets after losing first set against Austria. The American didn’t face much difficulty in defeating Giada Benazzi and Sara Lombardi of Italy in 21-11 and 21-17. It took them only 26 minutes to hold the grip of the game.
Ross passed remarks after their win against the Italian team, “Match with Austria started off with a slow pace but we got it together and managed to win, and then we had a good time with the Italians.”
Two Russian teams also survived the first stage and entered the Pool F in the next stage of tournament. The 7th-seeded Ekaterina Karpischenko and Maria Ushkova, joined by the other pair, Ksenia Dabizha and Olga Sorokina, are struggling in the game. Karapischenko played her last season with a different partner and she finished second and third in the last two year in the same championship. Her partnership with Maria Ushkova worked out and they led the Pool F by thrashing the Latvian and team from Canada. Dabizha and Sorokina were also able to touch 0-2 on the points’ scale.
The second-seeded Anna Behlen and Sandra Syfferth of Germany ruled the Pool B. They outplayed the Russian team and gained more confidence in the game by defeating the Netherlands’ team.
In the Pool D, Ukraine dictated the whole teams from Poland and Greece. The sixteenth-seeded Olena Bosanova and Valentyna Hyrstvuk won three sets and took the leading role in their squad.
Spain also put a lot of duty and responsibility to win every game and move forward to the next stage in the tournament. Their efforts brought them good results. The Spanish seventeenth-seeded Angela Lobato and Paula Soria achieved solid ground in the Pool E by defeating Austrian and Switzerland’s teams.
The host country also tried luck with three home-teams but unfortunately, they were all out by bitterly losing in the hands of American and Australian teams. They couldn’t even qualify for the final pool play rounds.
Tags: