Kazakhstan women's volleyball team won against Vietnam 3-2 (18:25, 25:19, 23:25, 25:22, 15:13) in the match for first place in Group B of the Nations Cup being held in the Philippines. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The match of equal rivals – this is how the game of the best teams of sextet B, who contested the first place in the group, can be characterized.
In the key moments of the first set, the Vietnamese were more accurate – 25:18, the second set remained with our girls – 25:19. The wards of Askar Shalkibekov started the third set well – 8:6, but later lost the initiative. Losing 19:22, the Kazakhs equalized the score 22:22, but in the end luck turned away from them – 23:25.
The fourth set followed a similar scenario. Our volleyball players started better, but the Vietnam team did not lag behind. The decisive break for the Kazakhs came at 16:16. Taking a lead of 19:16, they maintained a three-point difference until the end of the set – 25:22.
In the fifth set, the scales alternately tipped to both sides, but the Kazakhstan team showed character at the decisive moment and achieved victory – 15:13. The most productive players in our team were wing spikers Kristina Belova and Zhanna Syroezhkina, who scored 21 points each, and diagonal player Tatyana Yatskiv scored 20 points.
Kazakhstan's opponent in the match for a place in the final will be determined today in the match between South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
In the match of outsiders of Group A, Uzbekistan defeated Kyrgyzstan in three sets (25:20, 25:13, 25:19).
The Asia-Pacific Nations Cup, formerly known as the Challenge Cup, is being held for the fifth time. The dozen best teams of the continent were divided into sixes. After a single-round tournament, the top two teams will advance to the semifinals. The rest will play for places 5th to 12th. The tournament will end on June 14.