Thailand put up a determined challenge against the Netherlands, but found the rivals too strong to go down in comfortable straight sets in their opening Week 2 encounter of the 2021 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy on Monday.
Coach Kittikun Sriutthawong shuffled his lineup a lot in this match as wing spiker Wilavan Apinyapong switched her position with libero Thapapaiphan Chaisri to improve the team’s game plan and revive their fortunes. Thailand had already lost three matches in succession in their Week 1 campaign.
Both teams got off to a good start in the first set to level at 15-15, but the Netherlands used their height advantage to attack spectacularly and block solidly to take the hard-fought set 25-20.
The second set became one-way traffic with the Netherlands dominating the whole game, allowing their opponents, error-strewn with their unforced spiking and receiving, only nine points throughout the easy battle to win the set 25-9 and stretch the lead to 2-0.
Thailand regrouped in the third set, hoping to claw their way back to win the set. Still, with the winds in their sails, the Netherlands went on their powerful attacks and effective blocks to win the thrilling set 25-18 and match.
Onuma Sittirak led Thailand with 10 points, while Pleumjit Thinkaow distributed 8 points. Four players scored double digits for the Netherlands, with captain Anne Buijs bagging 13 points, Nika Daalderop 12 and Eline Timmerman and Elles Dambrink claiming identical 11.
Pleumjit Thinkaow of Thailand said after the match at the virtual mixed zone: “This match was mostly about the block system. They have a really good block-defence system, they are tall and strong, and we tried our best. We had three days to recover so we could give our bodies and muscles some rest. We feel stronger now. We play against the strongest teams in the world here, so we have to learn and gain experience.”
Netherlands’ Britt Bongaerts said: “Thailand play with a lot of combinations and a different style to what we are used to, so I think we did a good job with good serve pressure and good block. The serve pressure was very important because of these combinations, but we also blocked a lot. We are quite a new team with many new players, so I think we are getting better. But we are not there yet, so there is still a lot to work on.”
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