Caguas, Gurabo, Juncos and Maunabo, Puerto Rico, September 12, 2015 - Day 2 of FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship in Puerto Rico finished with seven teams already celebrating their tickets to the next round of the gold medal race, as only one spot remains open. Russia, Bulgaria, Peru, Japan, Italy, Brazil and Dominican Republic form the elite group that is already moving forward, while Serbia and China will clash for the eighth and final berth.
Pool A featured another win by Bulgaria, once again in four sets and this time over Cuba, who showed more confidence but fell short 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-19, 25-16). Bulgarian Miroslava Paskova made 18 points, being 15 attacks, 1 block and 2 service aces, to carry her side to a positive 2-0 record and onto the next round.
At the same group, Russia moved to Juncos and emerged as winners over Puerto Rico, in a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) with increasing difficulty. Host star Karla Santos led the scorers with 17 points as she delighted the passionate crowd, but Russia had more attacking options to extend their spotless run, still without losing sets in Puerto Rico.
Another tandem confirmed for the next round is Japan and Italy, both rising from Pool C in Caguas. The European team charted a comfy win over Egypt 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-18), making use of the entire roster and with Paola Egonu as the most active scorer, with 10 points. Egypt attempted an answer on the third set, but they failed to remain consistent and lost in the end.
As for Japan, current silver medalists starred an exciting game together with Chinese Taipei, which resulted in a hard-fought 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 26-24) filled with defensive plays and long rallies. Nanami Hirose and captain Mizuki Yanagita were vital for Japan specially during the third set, when they trailed Chinese Taipei all along until a 23-point tie and then rushed to win.
Pool D in Gurabo is seasoned with Latin flavour as Brazil is atop with perfect numbers, thanks to a convincing 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-17) victory over Turkey. The South American squad overcame the Turkish resistance in the first set and strengthened afterwards, with Karoline Tormena and Lorenne Geraldo at the helm.
On the other hand, Dominican Republic netted a second win but with a whole different focus. The Caribbean side downed Czech Republic 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 25-14) and qualified among the top 8 teams of the tournament, but it was more struggle than what they expected against a battling Czech side, that ran out of power on the fourth and final chapter.
Also with Latin energy but from Pool B comes Peru, with their girls completely emotional after an absolutely demanding 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 27-25) over defending champions China. Maguilaura Frías and Angela Leyva allowed Peru to their second upset of the competition, as the girls coached by Natalia Málaga already ran past European champions Serbia on Day 1.
Precisely, either Serbia or China will complete the second round line-up, because the Serbian side successfully recovered on Saturday with a solid 3-0 (25-19, 25-8, 25-15) over a ruled out Mexico. This result enabled a mouth-watering Sunday duel between these two teams with the simplest possible motto - winners qualify for the second round and losers play for 9th place.
Top Scorer by Day23 - Gergana Dimitrova of Bulgaria v Puerto Rico on September 1119 - Brayelin Martinez of Dominican Republic v Czech Republic of September 12
19 - Nanami Hirose of Japan v Chinese Taipei of September 12
Top Scoring Performances23 - Gergana Dimitrova of Bulgaria v Puerto Rico on September 11
22 - Karla Santos of Puerto Rico v Bulgaria on September 11
19 - Anna Lazareva of Russia v Cuba on September 1119 - Brayelin Martinez of Dominican Republic v Czech Republic of September 12
19 - Nanami Hirose of Japan v Chinese Taipei of September 12
18 - Miroslava Paskova of Bulgaria v Puerto Rico on September 11
18 - Miroslava Paskova of Bulgaria v Cuba on September 12
Top Serving Performances5 - Xiangyu Gong of China v Mexico on September 11
5 - Anna Lazareva of Russia v Cuba on September 115 - Drussyla Costa of Brazil v Turkey on September 12
4 - Natalia Martinez of Dominican Republic v Turkey on September 11
4 - Iveta Stanchulova of Bulgaria v Puerto Rico on September 11
Top Team Serving Performances12 - Russia v Cuba on September 11
10 - China v Mexico on September 11
10 - Bulgaria v Cuba on September 12
Top Blocking Performances7 - Laiza Ferreira of Brazil v Czech Republic on September 11
7 - Zhang Qian of China v Peru on September 12
Top Team Blocking Performances13 - China v Mexico on September 1113 - Dominican Republic v Czech Republic on September 12
12 - Russia v Cuba on September 11
12 - Brazil v Czech Republic on September 11
12 - Dominican Republic v Turkey on September 11
12 - China v Peru on September 12
11 - Serbia v Mexico on September 12
Highest Scoring Sets28-26 Peru v Serbia (3rd Set) on September 11
27-25 Peru v China (3rd Set) on September 12
26-24 Czech Republic v Dominican Republic (2nd Set) on September 12
26-24 Peru v China (1st Set) on September 12
26-24 Cuba v Bulgaria (2nd Set) on September 12
Highest Scoring Matches180 - Bulgaria d Puerto Rico 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-21) on September 11
179 - Bulgaria d Cuba 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-19, 25-16) on September 12
178 - Dominican Republic d Czech Republic 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 25-14) on September 12