TT close account with 3-0 loss to South Korea

TT women’s volleyball team ended their account at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship at the Kobe Green Arena, Kobe, Japan yesterday with a 3-0 loss to South Korea in both teams’ closing Pool C match.

It was their first and only win in what was a disappointing championship for the South Koreans, while the débutantes of TT suffered a predictable fifth loss on the trot.

USA defeated Russia 3-2 to finish top of Pool C with five straight wins, while Russia ended in second.

Thailand and Azerbaijan, who finished third and fourth respectively, also advanced to the next stage of the competition.

For TT, wing spikers Darlene Ramdin and Channon Thompson both recorded 14 points, while Sinead Jack was the third highest scorer with nine points.

South Korea’s Park Jeongah was simply unstoppable, winning 26 points for her team, including 24 spikes, albeit after 61 attempts. Lee Juah scored 14 points, six of which were from the team’s 10 total service aces.

The 90-minute match was a closer affair than the straight set score-line suggested. South Korea edged TT in a hotly contested first set, 26-24, before winning the second comfortably, 25-16. The third was another close and tense affair, which the Koreans won 25-23.

While there were many positive take-aways, the Francisco Cruz-led TT team will be disappointed to leave the championship having won just one set throughout.

They entered the tournament as the only team to make their début. They also started the tournament as the lowest ranked team at 34th and were pitted in Pool C against three teams within the top 10, USA (second), Russia (fifth) and South Korea (10th).

They opened their account on Saturday with a 3-0 loss to Russia, which was followed by a 3-0 defeat to the USA the next day. The TT women fared slightly better in the third match against 16th-ranked surprise package, Thailand, but lost that encounter 3-1.

They suffered another 3-0 defeat on Wednesday morning in their penultimate match against Azerbaijan, before losing to South Korea.

The competition will continue on Sunday with the start of the second round, which is split between Pools E and F.

The teams to qualify out of their groups in order are: Netherlands, Japan, Germany and Mexico (Pool A); Italy, China, Turkey and Bulgaria (Pool B); USA, Russia, Thailand and Azerbaijan (Pool C); and Serbia, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (Pool D).