TT suffer third straight loss in World Volleyball

SPIKER Krystle Esdelle scored a tournament-high 15 points, while TT won their first set of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship at the Kobe Green Arena, Japan, but they fell to a 3-1 loss to Thailand yesterday.

By the end of the second period, Fancisco Cruz’s TT women looked to be headed to another straight sets defeat. However, they produced a much-improved performance in the third stanza during which they found themselves with a rare six-point gap. And although Thailand crawled back to narrow the margin, the TT team held on to seal the set with a strong block from Jalicia Ross.

In the end, Thailand won the match comfortably 25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 25-11 to take their record to two wins and one loss.

The Caribbean debutants, meanwhile, slipped to their third straight defeat.

TT will have another chance to earn their first ever volleyball World Championship win when they face Azerbaijan (one win, two losses), ranked 24th in the world, from 1.40 pm local time (12.40 am TT time) today. TT opened their account on Saturday, going under 3-0 to Russia. A day later, they went under again by straight sets to number-two ranked USA.

Yesterday, USA defeated South Korea 3-1, while Russia eased to a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan. Both USA and Russia have already qualified for the next round, as have Italy, China, Netherlands, Serbia and Brazil. Following the completion of Pool A-D matches, the top four teams from each group will be regrouped in the next round, separated by two groups, Pool E and F, each comprising eight teams.

The top three teams from Pool E and F will then advance to Pool G and H. The winners of Pool G will play the runners-up of Pool H and vice-versa in the two semifinals.

The third place finishers in those two groups will play in the fifth place match. The final is scheduled for October 20.

RESULTS

Yesterday

Pool B

Italy 3 vs Cuba 0

Turkey 3 vs Bulgaria 0

China 3 vs Canada 0

Pool C

Russia 3 vs Azerbaijan 0

Thailand 3 vs TT 1

United States 3 vs South Korea 1

Monday

Pool A

Germany 3 vs Argentina 0

Netherlands 3 vs Cameroon 0

Japan 3 vs Mexico 0

Pool D

Dominican Republic 3 vs Kazakhstan 0

Puerto Rico 3 vs Kenya 0

Serbia 3 vs Brazil 0

Fixtures

Today

Pool A

Argentina vs Netherlands

Mexico vs Germany

Japan vs Cameroon

Pool B

Turkey vs Italy

Canada vs Cuba

China vs Bulgaria

Pool C

Azerbaijan vs TT

South Korea vs Russia

United States vs Thailand

Pool D

Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic

Kazakhstan vs Serbia

Kenya vs Brazil