Four more go home as top
eight focus on quarter-finals
 Macau,
China, July 27, 2005 - Belarus, Ukraine, Egypt and Chinese
Taipei all missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after
losing their elimination play-offs on the fourth day of the
Girls' U18 World Championship on Wednesday.
But Argentina, Italy, Russia and China survived to keep
their hopes alive. In the first game of the day, Argentina
beat Belarus 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 25-27, 25-16).
Luisina Yaccuzzi led the scoring chart with 19 points,
including 17 spikes, and was supported by captain Paula
Nizetich with 14, including 12 spikes. Inevitably, Tatsiana
Markevich was Belarus's leading scorer with 15 points.
Italy were the next team to enter the last eight by beating
Ukraine 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 25-16). Italy's head
coach, Giuseppe Galli, said his team could beat anyone...if
their brains were switched on. "Physically and technically
we are very good, and we can compete with anyone if we play
tactically," he said. "Our brain has to be working if we are
to win.
"I feel we have improved already in this tournament. Our
first two games were easy (against Chinese Taipei and
Tunisia), but we lost some momentum against USA, who are a
great team.
"The day off enabled us to rest and recover our spirit, and
now we can express our own game."
As expected, Russia had too much height and experience for
Egypt, and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners 25-10, 25-8,
25-14.
Egypt's defeat ended Africa's interest in the championship,
following the earlier departure of Tunisia.
In the fourth and final elimination match, China swept
Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-13) to complete the
quarter-final line-up. But China will be hard-pressed to
clinch a third straight championship, according to Chinese
Taipei's head coach, Yu Chao Cheng.
"I think the European teams and the United States are the
strongest," he said. "China is a little bit weaker compared
to the team that won the Asian Youth Championship in the
Philippines."
In the two games between the four preliminary group winners
to decide the seedings for the quarter-finals, the United
States beat Croatia 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 30-28) and Brazil
beat Korea 3-0 (27-25, 25-22, 25-23).
The Americans have yet to lose a set in their four
impressive victories, and libero Kimberly Kuzma summed up
the spirit in the camp. "It is not about playing time," she
said. "We have the same goal and that is to win as a team."
Head coach Erikka Gulbranson was full of praise for the
squad players who came in for this match. "The kids that
started today have been working their tails off for weeks,"
she said. "We had no doubts they could keep us at an even
pace, and they did. They were fabulous. Even when they were
behind they stayed patient. They
were awesome."
No one would argue with that. |
Competition Formula
