Nataliya Obmochaeva of Russia powered her team to gain a 3-0 win over Dominican Republic in the first round of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in Tokyo, Japan.
Obmochaeva spearheaded the Russian offence with 24 points, including 18 spikes, five blocks and an ace. Yana Scherban contributed 14 points for Russia, while Gina Altagracia Mambru Casilla recorded 12 points for the Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic started well but Russia began to pick up the pace, led by Nataliya Obmochaeva, to take the advantage in the first technical timeout of the opening set 16-10. The Russian net defence forced the Dominicans to commit costly errors that extended the advantage of the European squad, until Obmochaeva’s powerful kill sealed the first set victory for Russia 25-15.
Dominican Republic led once again early in the second set 7-6, but a successful challenge by Russia reversed a call that tied the game at 7-all. The Russians eventually gained advantage 8-7 in the first technical timeout with a triple block on the Dominican attacker. Dominican Republic could not contain their errors and a service mistake further allowed Russia to take another set 25-18 and a 2-0 set-advantage. The Russians’ powerful blocking stance was put to work to gain edge 4-0 in the third set, then the Dominicans managed to bridge the gap and trailed Russia 18-15. Russia then rallied to reach the end of the set and Obmochaeva closed the set and match victory 25-18, with another powerful kill from the right flank.