US defeats Thailand 3-1 in a World Grand Prix match – Volleyball news
The first match of the second day of final round the FIVB World Grand Prix took place on Thursday, June 28, 2012 between United States and Thailand. The host city of the final round of the tournament is Ningbo, China. The match was held at the Ningbo Beilun
Gymnasium that seated a total of 2,200 spectators. It took the US not more than an hour and fifty minutes to hand out a defeat to Thailand at 3-1.
The defending champions USA were able to bag a win at the following set scores: 25-18, 27-25, 18-25 and 25-18.
The coach of the US squad, Hugh McCutcheon, shared his happiness at the outcome of the match in the following manner, “It is a difficult match this afternoon. It is a tough match, I am proud that the team found the win, especially they found solutions of
many problems that Thailand caused us during the game.”
On the other hand, the Thai coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai had the following statements to give about the loss of his team, “I want to thank the US team, they are one of the best teams in the world and they showed high spirit and high level on court
today. We learned a lot for our young players and we need this for our future.”
The player who was able to put up the most points in the entire set belonged to the US as it was Megan Hodge who tallied a score of 25 for her side. On the other hand, the Thai player Onuma Sittirak kept the pressure on her rivals by adding 20 points for
her team.
The two teams started off the opening set well but error on part of the Thai squad gave the lead to the US at 8-7 when the first technical timeout came. When the two teams came back onto the court, US were able to stretch the advantage till 10-7. Despite
the fact that the Thai coach called for a timeout, it did not affect the momentum of the US as they marched on to bag the first set at 25-18.
Thailand performed better in the start of the second set and took the lead at 8-6 which they were able to extend till 16-19. However, US propelled itself forwards till they had gone ahead of their rivals at 22-19. Once they had the advantage, US did not
let go of it till they had secured the second set as well at 27-25.
The third set saw the Thai lead at 16-12 that later went on to 21-14 and ended in a set win at 25-18. The US did not give their rivals any margin in the fourth set as they made a quick win at 25-18.
Tags: