Manila, Philippines, August 16, 2017 – In its most balanced scoring in the SMM 19th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship so far, Vietnam outlasted Kazakhstan 25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 20-25, 15-5 to remain in the hunt for a fifth-place finish in the tournament’s classification round.
While outside hitter Tran Thai Thanh Thuy once again topscored for Vietnam with 26 points Wednesday at the Alonte Sports Arena, team captain Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa, Ha Ngoc Diem and Bui Thi Nga provided ample support via a combined 46-point output.
The Vietnamese already looked poised to sweep the Kazakhs after taking the first two frames until they sputtered midway through the match as Yekaterina Zhdanova and Alessya Safronova caught fire and pushed the game to a deciding fifth set.
In the decider, however, Vietnam recovered and never looked back to the satisfaction of their head coach Hidehiro Irisawa, who was cheering on his wards at the sidelines from start to finish.
“Our team condition is not that good. My players have to use their hearts to win this match. Tran Thi Thanh Thuy proved to be a great asset to the team,” Vietnam’s Japanese head coach Hedhiro Irisawa said in an interview.
Vietnam will be facing the winners of the match-up between Philippines and Chinese Taipei in the 5th-7th playoff on Thursday at the same venue.
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