Hangzhou, China, July 6, 2023 – Kazakhstan proved a class above Uzbekistan to brush off the unfancied rivals in straight sets 25-17, 25-22, 25-14 to finish 3rd place in Classification 1st-8th Round Pool E in the 1st Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship at Hangzhou Normal University Cangqian Gymnasium here on Thursday afternoon.
Kazakhstan outside hitter Violetta Volga topscored with 15 points, followed by middle blocker Balaiym Koilybayeva, who contributed 13 points. Captain Absamatova Zebokhon led Uzbekistan with 11 points.
Kazakhstan demonstrated overwhelming advantages in attack and soon reached the set point at 24-14. Uzbekistan saved two set points before going down 17-25 owing to an unforced service error.
Conceding one set, Uzbekistan turned the table on Kazakhstan at the early stage of the second set, when the Kazakhs failed to make their mark and started to commit attacking errors. After a time-out, Kazakhstan found their rhythm and leveled it at 13-13 following two monster blocks in a row. Combined with excellent diggings and blocks, both sides built consolidate defense to trade points until Kazakhstan came up with more destructive attacks at the net. Balaiym Koilybayeva finished the set for Kazakhstan 25-22 with a deceptive attack.
Uzbekistan reinforced their defense in the third set and trailed narrowly 10-13. However, their attempts did not pay off well as Kazakhstan showed dominance in defense featuring impenetrable blocking. Middle blocker Ayaulym Amerzhan fired a thundering attack to hand Kazakstan the set win 25-14 and match.
“Uzbekistan are a good team. We’ve known each other well because we are neighbours,” Yergazin Rinad, Kazakhstan head coach, commented at the Mixed Zone.
Kazakhstan came in third place in Pool E with 4 points from one win against two losses, with Uzbekistan in fourth position with no point awarded from three straight losses.
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