Press release

Lima, Peru, July 27, 2011 – The FIVB Volleyball Women’s Junior World Championship Peru 2011 second round played its second of three round-robin matches Wednesday with eight matches in Lima and Trujillo. At the end of the day, Brazil and China secured two of the four spots into the gold-medal semifinal round.

The second round, with four groups of four teams split into a top eight and bottom eight brackets, concludes on Thursday. Pool E and Pool F consist of the top eight teams in contention for the gold medal, while Pool G and Pool H are teams attempting to classify as high as ninth place. The top two teams from Pool E and Pool F at the conclusion of the second round will play in the medal round semifinals on July 30, while the remaining teams will play in their respective classification level semifinal matches. The tournament concludes on July 31 with the medal round and all final classification matches.

In Pool E in Lima on Wednesday evening, Italy defeated United States 25-23, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20 as both teams won their opening match on Tuesday. Dominican Republic topped Peru 25-19, 26-24, 25-15 to even their record. While no team is mathematical secure into the gold-medal semifinal round, Italy holds the lead position with their undefeated record.

In Pool F in Trujillo, China stopped Belgium 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 while Brazil handled Slovakia 25-13, 25-22, 25-12. China and Brazil are both undefeated heading into the final day of the second round and have guaranteed spots into the gold-medal semifinals

In Pool G in Lima, Japan defeated Korea 25-20, 25-13, 25-9 in an all-Asia Volleyball Confederation match. Cuba eased past Tunisia 25-15, 25-13, 25-12.

In Pool H in Trujillo, Russia improved to 2-0 by defeating Poland 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 to gain the group lead. Serbia beat Egypt 25-16, 25-5, 29-27 for their first Pool H win.

Live scoring, results, news and photos on FIVB Volleyball Women's Junior World Championship Peru 2011.

China 3, Belgium 0
China (2-0 and 6 points in Pool F/5-0 overall) handled Belgium (0-2 and 0 points in Pool F/2-3 overall) 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 on the middle day of the second round Pool F in Trujillo. With the victory and Brazil’s win tonight, China has advanced to the gold-medal semifinals.

Xiaoya Zhang led China in scoring with 14 points, while Qi Wang charted 10 points in the victory. Belgium’s Lise Van Hecke continued tournament-leading scoring pace with 20 points as no other teammate scored more than three points. Both teams committed an abundance of errors with China having 24 and Belgium 23. China also held a 5-1 margin in aces.

“Today we won the match,” China captain Long Cheng said. “I had in mind the same ideas that I had against Slovakia, and I knew both teams were a great challenge to overcome. So we were prepared, we improved and we won.”

Brazil 3, Slovakia 0
Brazil (2-0 and 6 points in Pool F, 5-0 overall) eased to a 25-13, 25-22, 25-12 victory over Slovakia (0-2 and 0 points in Pool F/2-3 overall) as Brazil earned a spot into the gold-medal semifinal round.

Sthefanie Paulino contributed 16 points for Brazil, including four blocks and three aces. Gabriela Souza collected 13 points in the victory. Slovakia was led by Tatiana Crkonova and Simona Kosova, who each had seven points in the match. Brazil held a 12-4 advantage in blocks to go with a 42-23 margin in spike points.

“We achieved victory once again,” Brazil captain Priscila Heldes said. “We are proud of it and we expect to continue this rate of victories.”

Italy 3, United States 1
Italy (2-0 and 6 points in Pool E/4-1 overall) claimed a 25-23, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20 victory over United States (1-1 and 3 points in Pool E/4-1 overall) to take the lead in the Pool E second-round group as the only undefeated team.

Italy’s Valentina Diouf scored a match-high 24 points and Caterina Bosetti added 17 points in the victory. United Staes was paced by Kelly Reeves’ 17 points, followed by Carly Wopat’s 13 points including seven of the team’s 12 blocks. The Americans committed 27 errors in the match and the Italians held a 54-49 margin in spikes.

“Surely it was not a beautiful match in the technical aspect because both teams had mistakes,” Italy coach Marco Mencarelli said. “Fortunately, Italy could win.”

Dominican Republic 3, Peru 0
Dominican Republic (1-1 and 3 points in Pool E/3-2 overall) defeated host Peru (0-2 and 0 points in Pool E/3-2 overall) 25-19, 26-24, 25-15 at Lima in front of 5,000 fans at Eduardo Dibos Gymnasium. Dominican Republic’s victory keeps them alive for a position for the gold-medal semifinal.

Isabel Pena contributed 19 points for Dominican Republic and teammate Candida Arias scored six blocks as part of nine points. Brenda Uribe led Peru with 12 points, followed by Clarivett Yllescas’ nine points. Dominican Republic held an 11-3 margin in blocks and 9-6 advantage in aces.

“All the problems we had after the match with Russia helped us to improve,” Dominican Republic coach Wagner Pacheco said. “We are happy for the victory and tomorrow we will do our maximum effort.”

Russia 3, Poland 0
Russia (2-0 and 6 points in Pool H, 3-2 overall) beat Poland (1-1 and 3 points in Pool H, 1-4 overall) 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 in Trujillo to go into the driver’s seat for a spot in the 9-12 classification semifinals.

Valeriya Safonova, Alina Yaroshik and Natalia Malykh all scored match-high 13 points for Russia. Poland was led by Zuzanna Czyznielewska and her 11 points. Russia out-blocked Poland 13-8 and totaled a 4-1 margin in service aces.

“Unfortunately we are not in the top eight, but despite of that, we’ll do our best to improve and to win the next matches,” Russia coach Vadim Kiryanov said.

Japan 3, Korea 0
Japan (2-0 and 6 points in Pool G/2-3 overall) defeated Korea (0-2 and 0 points in Pool G/1-4 overall) 25-20, 25-13, 25-9 on the middle day of the second round. Japan improve to 2-0 in Pool G, while Korea lost the their second match of Pool G and fourth in a row overall.

Japan’s Fumika Moriya led all scorers with 16 points, while teammate Mari Horikawa added 12 points. Korea was led by Seung-Ju Pyo, Eon-Hye Kim and Ji-Soo Kim, who all had seven points. Japan held a 6-1 margin in aces and 6-3 advantage in blocks. Korea committed 18 errors in the match to Japan’s 12.

“We won this game thanks to our good reception and block,” said Horikawa, Japan’s captain.

Cuba 3, Tunisia 0
Cuba (2-0 and 6 points in Pool G/2-3 overall) defeated Tunisia (0-2 and 0 points in Pool G/1-4 overall) 25-15, 25-23, 25-12 to take the command of Pool G heading into the final day of group.

Yunieska Robles totaled a match-high 16 points for Cuba, while Regla Gracia added 11 points. Tunisia was led by captain Maroua Boughanmi’s seven points, while Ghalia Ouderni charted six points. Cuba produced a 13-2 block advantage and 4-1 margin in aces.

“The match today will benefit us like a preparation for the match against Japan, which is a team very fast and defensive team,” Cuba captain Yunieska Robles said.

Serbia 3, Egypt 0
Serbia (1-1 and 3 points in Pool H/2-3 overall) defeated Egypt (0-2 and 0 points in Pool H/0-5 overall) 25-16, 25-5, 29-27 in Trujillo to earn an important victory to remain alive for the 9-12 classification round semifinals.

Bianka Busa and Maja Savic each scored 12 points for Serbia, while Jadranka Budovic and Ljiljana Rankovic totaled 10 points each. Yasmin Huessein recorded 12 points for Egypt in the loss. Serbia held a 14-4 block advantage in the victory.

“We played a very important game today,” Serbia captain Danica Radenkovic said. “We had a good start, but we lost focus. Things that won’t happen in tomorrow’s match against Russia.”

Highest Scorer by Day
Day 1 (July 22): 22 points by Zhou Yang (China) in 3-1 win over Russia; Aleksandra Sikorska (Poland) in 3-2 loss to Korea; and Gabriela Souza (Brazil) in 3-1 win over Italy
Day 2 (July 23): 37 points by Lise Van Hecke (Belgium) in 3-1 win over Korea
Day 3 (July 24): 40 points by Lise Van Hecke (Belgium) in 3-1 win over Poland
Day 4 (July 26): 21 points by Yunieska Robles (Cuba) in 3-1 win over Korea; Lise Van Hecke (Belgium) in 3-0 loss to Brazil
Day 5 (July 27): 24 points by Valentina Diouf (Italy) in 3-1 win over United States

Live scoring, results, news and photos on http://www.fivb.org/EN/Volleyball/Competitions/Junior/Women/2011/index.asp.
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