With their experienced middle blocker and captain Adenizia Da Silva on fire, Praia produced a 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 28-26) shutout of Valkyries to maintain a perfect record in the pool. With American opposite Morgahn Fingall spearheading the attacks, the Brazilian team were in the lead since the start of the first set until Valkyries finally caught up at 23-23. The next two points went Praia’s way towards a lead in the match. Praia’s other American striker, outside hitter Payton Caffrey, powered the team in the one-sided second set until Bulgarian substitute outside Maria Koleva hammered the 25-15 set winner. The squad from Orlando tried fighting back and had control of the scoreboard for most of the third set, reaching set point at 24-22. The team from Uberlandia denied the American opponents as many as four opportunities to close the set, before a monster block by Adenizia brought in Praia’s first match point, which she converted herself with a successful swing through the middle for 28-26.
Praia outperformed Valkyries in all scoring elements – 55-41 in spike kills, 10-6 in kill blocks and 2-1 in aces. Adenizia authored six of those kill blocks and spiked at a 67% success rate to finish with a team-high 14 points, as many as outside Michelle Marinho Pavao added to her tally, including two blocks. Caffrey and middle blocker Milka Marcilia Medeiros Silva also reached the double digits, with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The American team made fewer unforced errors than their opponents, 11 against 16, while their opposite and captain Brittany Abercrombie emerged as the best scorer of the match with 15 points. Outside Charitie Luper added another 13 for Valkyries.
Next on the Club World Championship program is the Pool A fixture between Kazakhstan’s Zhetysu Taldyqorgan and Peru’s Alianza Lima, serving off at 13:30 local time (16:30 UTC). The next Pool B game, between Italy’s Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Egypt’s Zamalek Giza, is scheduled at 17:00 (20:00).
