Jiangmen, China, July 4, 2024 – Iran bounced back to beat Australia in dramatic four sets 28-30, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19 to next fight for the 9th position in the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium here on Thursday.
Outside hitter Shaghayegh Hassankhani scored a match-high 22 points from 17 kills, 2 blocks and 3 aces for Iran, while Ella Schabort led Australia with 17 points from 11 kills, 2 blocks and 4 aces.
Australia struggled in the first set as they trailed 3-6 from the beginning, but after that they managed to come back, catching the Iranians at 7-7 and went on a 14-11 run, thanks to their combination attacks including Cameron Zajer’s block-out swings. Iran gradually pulled their game together and hit back, with opposite Sepinood Dastbarjan attacking powerfully at the net.
With blocking efforts working wonders in their side, Australia first reached set point 24-23, but could not close out the set as the Iranians battled back to catch up at 24-24. From then on, the lead swung back and forth until 28-28 before Australia, seizing an opportunity when the Iranians played an errors-riddle game, won two points in a row for the hard-fought 30-28 win.
Despite going down one set, Iran stayed strong in the really difficult moments and they piled a 19-16 lead in the second set when Shaghayegh Hassankhani and Sepinood Dastbarjan were on fire in attack. Aussies tightened their defence and counter-attacked well to catch the tough rivals at 23-23. However, their attempts to fight on were in vain as Shaghayegh Hassankhani hammered a fine shot to bring Iran to the set point 24-23 and an attack from Kayla Cantrill went out wide. Iran took the closely-contested set 25-23.
The third set was dominated by Iran as they led from start to finish. Taking the lead with a six-point clear at 20-14, the Iranians relied mostly on hard-hitting Sepinood Dastbarjan, the 191cm-tall middle blocker Mobina Sadat Ghafarian Anbarani and Shaghayegh Hassankhani, while their resilience was also in full display since the beginning of the set. Iran bagged the set 25-19 to lead 2-1.
In the fourth set, both sides fought all out which saw the score leveled at 16-16. Iran defended well to move ahead 21-17 and extended to 23-19. Shaghavegh Hassankhani scored two points in a row to hand Iran the set win 25-19 and match.
Following the victory, Iran will next go for the 9th position against the winners in the later match between New Zealand and Hong Kong, China. Australia will fight for the 11th place against the losers in that match.
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
Mikasa Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/mikasasports_official
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation
Leave a Reply