Volleyball face-off: Belgium crushes U.S. at Summer Youth Olympics Girls Volleyball Tournament
The Summer Youth Olympics Girls Volleyball Tournament embarked on a very good start for the U.S. team but unfortunately it ended on a rough-edge for them. Belgium outplayed American team and clinched the gold medal.
Belgium and U.S. both were included in Group B and covered their way to the final stage after outstanding performance in their respective matches. Both teams played two matches in the preliminary round and made it to the semi-finals. The U.S. team remained un-beaten in the opening round while Belgium lost one game.
The rival-teams had their first meeting on the second day of the tournament. It was the longest match of preliminary round in both groups which continued for five sets. It was a ping-pong sort of match as the set-points shifted in an amusing way. The first set was won by U.S. and second set was empowered by Belgium. The U.S. team regained the control in third set and defeated Belgium, while they returned the score by winning fourth set. The teams entered the fifth-set with an equal score of 2-2. Somehow, the U.S. team managed to defeat Belgians in final set and claimed victory in order to qualify for semi-final.
Belgium had defeated Egypt in the first match and confirmed their participation in semi-final, as the U.S. also beat Egypt in their second match. The teams played their semi-finals with different contenders where U.S. defeated Japan and Belgium outplayed Peru.
U.S. and Belgium were again together for the final battle. American team had a strong position in the tournament and seemed confident about their skill-set and abilities. On contrary, Belgium had the potential risk lurking on their side as they lost the first round match to USA. But the final-match was also an excellent opportunity for Belgium to take revenge from the U.S. team.
The final-match started off with a usual American attack. Micha Hancock opened the strike with an ace and Crystal Graff supported the team with consecutive kills. The spikers produced early points and managed to take a lead of 3-0. In the meantime, Belgium scored a point but U.S. also added two more points. The American lead was maintained at the first technical timeout (TTO). Afterwards U.S. made a few ball-handling errors, which raised Belgium’s score. The U.S. team regained commanding position in the game declared first set win by posting 25-17.
The second set began and U.S. dominated the early phase of the set but the Belgians tried to restrict their points. They found their feet in the latter half of the set, and hit valuable points. Belgium Team successfully dismissed the Americans by extending the score to 25-20. The game was levelled at the end of second round.
Afterwards, Belgium remained on the same track and maintained the upper-hand on American team. A few camp-fires and other errors caused trouble for the U.S. team, and they lost the third set with a margin of six points.
The two sets’ victory provided Belgians an edge to further influence their competitors. U.S. team tried to hit back but Belgium appeared tough to tackle. The fourth decisive set also favoured Belgium’s team, and they achieved success in the final set. They claimed a 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-18, and 25-12) match-victory over United States. Belgium secured the gold medal while U.S. finished second and settled for silver-medal.
For the third-place match, Peru and Japan clashed in an aggressive way. Peru outshined by making a difference and posted 3-1 (22-25, 30-28, 25-11, and 25-17) win over Japan. Peru clutched bronze medal while Japan finished fourth-place.
Host Singapore defeated Egypt and pulled off fifth-place in the tournament.
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