2018 FIVB WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE – WEEK 1/POOL 1
- May 15th-17th, 2018
- Power Rankings
- Team Sports Palace, Yetakerinburg, Russia
- Time Zone: GMT + 5 (US Eastern Time +9)
- World Rankings: #5 Russia, #8 Netherlands, #16 Thailand, #11 Argentina
- Preview
Pool favorites did their job in the opening day of FIVB’s inaugural VNL. But the Russians and the Dutch are in different “zones.” While the Netherlands is one of the hottest volleyball teams in the world in the moment, Russia is riding a wave of dysfunctional teams and coaches that resulted in very poor performances in the last years. This showed in both teams’ debuts, as the Dutch completely ran over Thailand, while Russia even lost a set to Argentina, basically a semi-pro team.
Results After Day 1
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May | 16:30 | Thailand  |
0–3 |  Netherlands |
20–25 | 24–26 | 13–25 | 57–76 | P2 P3 | ||
| 15 May | 19:00 | Russia  |
3–1 |  Argentina |
20–25 | 25–13 | 25–13 | 25–22 | 95–73 | P2 P3 | |
| 16 May | 16:30 | Argentina |
– | Netherlands |
– | – | – | 0–0 | P2 P3 | ||
| 16 May | 19:00 | Russia |
– | Thailand |
– | – | – | 0–0 | P2 P3 | ||
| 17 May | 16:30 | Argentina |
– | Thailand |
– | – | – | 0–0 | P2 P3 | ||
| 17 May | 19:00 | Russia |
– | Netherlands |
– | – | – | 0–0 | P2 P3 |
Netherlands Def. Thailand, 3-0
- #8 Netherlands defeated #16 Thailand 3-0 (20-25, 24-26, 13 – 25)
- Netherlands moved to 1-0 (3 points), Thailand moved to 0-1 (0 points)
A Thai squad without Nootsara Tomkom was just an easy prey for the talented Dutch and succumbed with a 3-0 (20 – 25 24 – 26 13 – 25) loss. Riding on setter Laura Dijkema‘s skillful setting, Celeste Plak had 16 points while being helped by Anne Buijs’ 14 point effort. On the losing side Ajcharaporn Kongyot, with 10 points, was the only player to score in double figures. This was only a warm up for the Dutch, which are favorites to win this pool.
Here are the post match reactions:
Netherlands coach Jamie Morrison: I think that the whole match was good. Thailand pushed us hard in the third set, but we broke away. We will work further and improve in our next matches. Each match is a chance to get better at something.
Netherlands captain Maret Balkestein-Grothues: We did a lot of push serves. Maybe we were a little bit sloppy in the second set. In the third set we felt a lot of pressure, so this will be a good lesson for us to help us in the next matches.
Thailand coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul: It’s very difficult to get a point against the Netherlands team because they have a high block and they play very tight. We tried to put more strength and did our best.
Thailand captain Pleumjit Thinkaow: Our team played in a good level but the Netherlands defended well. This is a good lesson for our team to level up.
Tomorrow, things should be even easier for the Dutch, as it will go up against Argentina. Meanwhile, Thailand will try give Russia a headache.
Russia Def. Argentina, 3-1
- #5 Russia defeated #11 Argentina (25-13, 25-13, 25 – 22)
- Russia moved to 1-0 (3 points), Argentina moved to 0-1 (0 points)
Argentina came out of the gates swinging, winning its debut set with 25-20, which considering both teams’ place in the volleyball pantheom, is a huge feat for Argentina. The Russians then organized themselves and were able to win the next three sets (25 – 13 25 – 13 25 – 22). Kseniia Parubets led the way with 21 points, while Anahi Tosi had 18 points in the losing effort.
Russian coach Vadim Pankov was livid with his team’s performance on the 1st set of the match (Championat.com):
“In the first set the game was crumpled, absolutely bad. Yes, we did not know the rival, but we did not do our own thing either: in the attack we made many mistakes. Playing like that is impermissible. In addition, we did not know our places in defense – where the opponent is attacking. We need to quickly rebuild our defense and build up the interaction of the block with the defense. Gradually everything was normalized, quickly analyzed and changed, which is the most important thing. A lot depends on the setter. Romanov was a little off at first, nevertheless, the attackers must support the setter. If the attacker wins the ball, he supports the setter and she becomes more confident, which will benefit the team later. Any set, if the ball is not lower than the net, the attacker must win.”
Leave a Reply