Talented Britt Herbots tallied a match-high 32 points to steer classy Belgium to a tie-break win against fighting Korea in their third Week 2 encounter of the 2021 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League ini Rimini, Italy on Wednesday.
Korea got off to a good start with 25-23 win against Belgium in the first set, but the European opponents bounced back mightily to net the next two sets 25-23, 25-16 for a 2-1 advantage.
With superstar Kim Yeon-Koung dangerous from spike range, Korea were cruising comfortably through the fourth set, which they won with ease 25-16, forcing a tie-breaker. However, it was Herbots, whose improving efforts in Belgium’s offence changed the momentum in the match. Consistently and confidently, Belgium played cool under pressure, but eventually powered their way to the narrow 15-12 win in the decider.
Britt Herbots topscored with 32 points including 26 attacks and 2 aces for Belgium, while Celine Van Gestel added 15. Kim Yeon-Koung chipped in with 27 points and Lee Soyoung 23 on Korea’s losing efforts.
Lee Soyoung from Korea said: “Since our goal is to win we are trying to go hard for it. Belgium has a high block and I was trying to use it, I think it worked well. The thing that was missing was passing. It was not good enough today.”
Belgium’s Celine Van Gestel said: “We are really happy with these three wins. Of course now we are really tired because all the games were really tough. We knew that this game would be extremely important for us and we were prepared very well. Our coaches worked hard on it. But Korea played a really good game, they knew what they had to do playing against us. In the end though we found an answer and won the match. It was a game of ups and downs, but I believe it was team spirit and a lot of fighting that helped us to win this game.”
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