Kazakhstan – Vietnam
The win against Vietnam booked Kazakhstan’s ticket to the 2013 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, joining first qualifier Thailand and the two automatic qualifiers China and Japan.
Lyudmila Anarbayeva and Alena Omelchenko spearheaded Kazakhstan’s offensive thrust. Anarbayeva and Omelchenko’s abundance of points throughout the game fuelled Kazakhstan’s blocking and attacking.
Kazakhstan showed a little bit of weakness in the second set as Vietnamese ace hitter Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa’s hot hands blazed an assault to the Kazakhstan side. Kazakhstan refined their defence and coped with the situation by carefully protecting their lead until the end of the second set at 25-20.
Kazakhstan established a tough wall at the net as Olga Drobyshevskaya, assisted by Sana Jarlagassova deflected shots of Vietnam. The strong presence of the Kazakhs at the net drew positive results for Kazakhstan and rattled the usually focused Vietnam team. Vietnam committed major blunders on their serve and spike.
With the crowd on their feet to cheer for their team, Vietnam could no longer handle the pressure on and off the court and surrendered to Kazakhstan at the 25-16 mark.
