The most unsuccessful team of 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship
Algeria finished the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship in the bottom slot and have been labelled as the most unsuccessful team of the tournament for being without a single win during the championship. Algeria was one of the two teams which qualified
for the competition from Africa but could not seize its chances. In the last match of the tournament on Sunday, August 21, Algeria was put up against Puerto Rico. The match spanned over four sets, while Algeria could capture only one set. Puerto Rico posted
3-1 (20-25, 25-11, 27-25, and 25-12) victory over Algeria and got hold of the 15 position on the ranking chart. The Ankara Sports Hall in Turkey hosted the match on Sunday morning.
Stephanie Massanet of Puerto Rico was the top contributor of the match. She supported her team with match-high 25 points. Following her footsteps, Hernandez, Lucia Castro and Ana Sofia Jusino registered 15, 13, and 10 points for Puerto Rico. On the other
side of the net, Louiza Bayou was the only Algerian player who went into double figures and posted ten points in a losing effort. Her teammates, Celia Bourihane and Dallal Merwa Achour contributed 9 and 8 points, respectively.
Algerian team started off with 8-6 lead in the opening set of the match. Celia Azamoum was pretty consistent on attacks and helped Algeria to lead the scores. Puerto Rico’s Hernandez played fast and tried to minimize the gap of points. Anyhow, Algeria maintained
its lead up till the second technical timeout. Algerian Gabriela Varela hit from different angles and led her team to success in the first set 25-20.
The Caribbean team from Puerto Rico counter attacked in following set and picked up an early lead of 11-6. Hernandez and Castro worked out a great chemistry between them and helped Puerto Rico dominate the opposite side. Algeria was dragged under pressure
and led it to the loss of second set 11-25.
Puerto Rico extended its lead by winning third set and announced match victory by claiming the fourth set in a row.
Head Coach of the winning team, Eric Gonzalez, made satirizing comment about his team. He said most of the Puerto Rican players slept in the first set. However, they charged up as the opening set was over. Then they gained momentum and defeated the opponents.
Captain girl Daly Santana accepted that they acted too anxiously in the first set and then got their real form in the remaining sets.
Karim Imedjdab, the Algerian mentor was disappointed with the overall performance of his team. He congratulated Puerto Rico for their second win against Algeria. The Algerian captain Celia Bourihane stated: “The first set we played without pressure. Then
we lost focus as we did not follow the instructions of our coach.”
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