Reigning Olympic champions the United States are top of the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Pool C standings after they defeated NORCECA rivals Canada to claim their second victory in Arnhem, the Netherlands, on Monday.
Women's World Championship 2022
USA top of Pool C
A straight-set victory against Canada places the reigning Olympic champions top of their pool
Published 08:55, 26 Sept 2022
The team coached by Karch Kiraly maintained the strong rhythm displayed in their opening match against Kazakhstan on Saturday and dominated Canada to a comfortable three-set (25-19, 26-24, 25-15) victory in the last match of the fourth day of the competition.
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Earlier in the day, Germany topped Kazakhstan in three sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) while defending champions Serbia needed all five (25-21, 22-25, 25-27, 25-21, 15-9) to handle fellow Europeans Bulgaria.
After the conclusion of the first two matches for the six teams in Pool C, the United States, Germany and Serbia all have two wins. The Americans, however, are the only ones to have won both of their matches in straight sets, and sit at the top of the table with the same six points as the Germans, but a better set ratio – Serbia have five points.
Bulgaria, who have one point, Canada and Kazakhstan, who both remain scoreless, are yet to register their first victories in the tournament. The four best-ranked teams at the conclusion of pool play will move forward to the second phase of the event being held in the Netherlands and Poland.
For a second straight match, Alexandra ‘Ali’ Frantti led the American offence. The 26-year-old outside hitter chipped in 15 points (14 kills, one block) against the Canadians and hit an impressive 52% efficiency rate.
“At the end of the day, we’re just having fun,” Frantti commented. “We’ve been pushing so hard in training leading up to the World Championship and we know every team will come here and do their best. We’re just going to keep fighting hard and I’m really proud of our team today. They pushed us at the end of the second set but we were ready to battle for each point and went for it.”
Olympic champion opposite Annie Drews, who had a 50% efficiency rate in hitting, came right behind her with 14 points (11 kills, one block, two aces) while middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu dominated the middle with six kills and four blocks.
On the Canadian side, opposite Kiera van Ryk matched Frantti’s production of 15 points (all in kills), while outside hitter Alexa Gray added another nine.
Americans and Canadians will both have two days off before they return to the court, on Thursday, in Lodz, Poland. Canada will open the day against Kazakhstan at 13.00 local time (11.00 GMT) while the USA will play in the last match of the day at the venue, against Bulgaria, at 19.00 local time (17.00 GMT).