Argentina and Turkey played each other on Thursday to determine which team would claim first place in Pool G after having secured theirs spots to play for ninth place in the FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship. Turkey proved the better team, beating Argentina in three sets. In the first fixture of the day, Thailand recorded their first victory in the competition, claiming a straight-set win over Rwanda.
Women u20 2021
Turkey top Pool G
Thailand claim first victory, Turkey outclass Argentina to lead pool
Published 07:02, 15 Jul 2021
Winless in the competition so far, Thailand and Rwanda locked horns on the last day of action in Pool G. It was the Thailand team who took control of the game, outperforming their opponent in attack, and pushing also on the serve (finishing with 38 winning spikes and eight aces in the match). Only in the third set did Rwanda cause any difficulties to Thailand, but it didn’t lead to any big surprises. However, Rwanda outclassed Thailand on the block (six by Rwanda compared to four by the players of Nataphon Srisamutnak). Srilaoong Waranya of Thailand topped the charts with 16 points.
“Of course, we are happy with the win. It is our first victory here at the tournament. Still, we made too many errors, and we need to improve in the future," Suphatcha Khamtrareaksa, captain and setter of Thailand commented after the match.
Argentina were unable to respond to Turkey’s attacks at the beginning of the match. The Panthers struggled at the net as well. Turkey lacked some concentration in the second set, and Argentina seized the opportunities from their errors. The players of Sahin Catma quickly found back their way back into the set, however, to take a 2-0 advantage.
Argentina put up a fight in the last set, and were more stable in the different elements of the game. They followed their opponents in the scoring and even took the lead. Bianca Cugno and her teammates, however, weren’t able to score a break point, and Turkey found the right motivation to close the match in straight sets.
Turkey outperformed Argentina in attack (39 spikes to 33 by the Panthers), in block (9 to 3) and aced more times - seven compared to three. Sude Hacimustafaglu of Turkey was the top scorer with 15 points to her name.
“I am really happy, it was an important match for us. We delivered a good game, and I am proud of my team. We really believed in winning the third set, we pushed in the end, and it is great that we won," Gulce Guctekin, libero of Turkey commented.
