Russia are the only unbeaten team after five days of competition in the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup
Tokyo and Matsumoto, Japan, August 27, 2015 – Russia came out on top after the first round of action in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup on Thursday, while USA and Japan came out with victories to rank second and third, respectively.
At the Yoyogi National Stadium, Russia completed the first round with an unbeaten record after they dominated Cuba 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-18). Nataliya Obmochaeva had another good scoring game and finished with 16 points, while Alena Rojas Orta charted only nine points for the losing side.
Argentina took advantage of the 29 errors of Kenya in their match to gain a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-20) victory. Argentina capitalised on this drawback by Kenya into claiming their second victory in five days of competition in Tokyo. Sol Piccolo led Argentina with 11 points, while Mercy Moim top scored in the match with 13 markers.
In the only five-set match of the day, Japan defeated Dominican Republic 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 30-32, 25-15, 15-13). Prisilla Rivera Brens had a superb scoring night as she finished with 26 points for Dominican Republic but the combined scoring efforts of Sarina Koga, Miyu Nagaoka, Haruyo Shimamura and Riho Otake made the difference in Japan’s victory.
Meanwhile, at the Matsumoto City Gymnasium, USA ruled Algeria in a 3-0 (25-7, 25-2, 25-5) encounter to gain top spot in Matsumoto with a 4-1 win-loss record. USA had an excellent scoring game with 34 attacks, 17 blocks and eight aces. Tetori Dixon once again led USA in the scoring department with 16 points – more than the total point output in the match of their African rivals. Megan Easy contributed 12 points, and Nicole Fawcett and Kelsey Robinson added 10 points each for the United States.
China played without their top spiker Zhu Ting but still emerged on top 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) against Peru. Yuan Xinyue and Zhang Changning scored 16 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Chinese scorers in the victory. Katherin Regalado and Katherinne Olemar scored nine points each for Peru.
Tijana Boskovic scored 17 points to spearhead the Serbian offence and produce a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-16) win over the Koreans. Brankica Mihajlovic and Milena Rasic also scored in double figures – 15 and 12 points – to help offset the scoring proficiency of Korea’s Kim Yeon-Koung, who finished with 12 points. The Serbians led with 9-1 blocks and 5-2 aces.
Top Scorer by Day
26 – Mercy Moim of Kenya v Cuba on August 22
34 – Tatiana Kosheleva of Russia v Japan on August 23
19 – Sarina Koga of Japan v Cuba on August 24
27 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v China on August 26
26 – Prisilla Rivera Brens of Dominican Republic v Japan on August 27
Top Scoring Performances
34 – Tatiana Kosheleva of Russia v Japan on August 23
27 – Kim Yeon-Koung of Korea v China on August 26
26 – Prisilla Rivera Brens of Dominican Republic v Japan on August 27
26 – Mercy Moim of Kenya v Cuba on August 22
25 – Regla Gracia of Cuba v Kenya on August 22
24 – Zhu Ting of China v Serbia on August 22
24 – Nataliya Obmochaeva of Russia v Dominican Republic on August 22
23 – Saori Kimura of Japan v Russia on August 23
23 – Tijana Boskovic of Serbia v USA on August 23
Top Individual Serving Performances
5 – Prisilla Rivera Brens of Dominican Republic v Japan on August 27
5 – Zhang Changning of China v Serbia on August 22
4 – Sarina Koga of Japan v Dominican Republic on August 27
4 – Miyu Nagaoka of Japan v Cuba on August 24
4 – Tijana Boskovic of Serbia v USA on August 23
4 – Saori Kimura of Japan v Argentina on August 22
4 – Everlyn Makuto of Kenya v Cuba on August 22
4 - Foluke Akinradewo of USA v Korea on August 22
Top Team Serving Performances
10 – Dominican Republic v Japan on August 27
10 – Japan v Kenya on August 26
10 – Korea v Algeria on August 24
10 – Serbia v USA on August 23
10 - USA v Korea on August 22
Top Individual Blocking Performances
7 – Yuan Xinyue of China v Peru on August 27
6 – Tetori Dixon of USA v Algeria on August 27
6 – Julieta Constanza Lazcano of Argentina v Dominican Republic on August 24
6 – Milena Rasic of Serbia v USA on August 23
6 – Maja Ognjenovic of Serbia v USA on August 23
6 – Zhu Ting of China v Serbia on August 22
5 – Annerys Victoria Valdez Vargas of Dominican Republic v Japan on August 27
5 – Alena Rojas Orta of Cuba v Dominican Republic v Cuba on August 26
5 – Marianne Fersola Norberto of Dominican Republic v Argentina on August 24
5 – Tatiana Kosheleva of Russia v Japan on August 23
5 – Emilce Sosa of Argentina v Cuba on August 23
5 – Yang Hyo-Jin of Korea v Peru on August 23
5 – Nataliya Obmochaeva of Russia v Dominican Republic on August 22
Top Team Blocking Performances
22 – Serbia v USA on August 23
17 – USA v Algeria on August 27
16 – Korea v Peru on August 23
14 – Japan v Dominican Republic on August 27
14 – Cuba v Dominican Republic on August 26
14 – Dominican Republic v Argentina on August 24
14 – Argentina v Dominican Republic on August 24
14 – China v Serbia on August 22
Highest Scoring Sets
27-25 Cuba v Kenya (1st set) on August 22
28-26 Dominican Republic v Kenya (1st set) on August 23
25-23 USA v China (1st and 3rd sets) on August 24
25-23 Dominican Republic v Cuba (4th set); Korea v China (1st set); China v Korea (4th set) on August 26
32-30 Dominican Republic v Japan (3rd set) on August 27
Highest Scoring Matches
184 - Cuba d Kenya 3-1 (27-25, 25-23, 12-25, 25-22) on August 22
202 – Russia d Japan 3-2 (12-25, 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 15-13) on August 23
177 – Dominican Republic d Argentina 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-15) on August 24
185 – Dominican Republic d Cuba 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23) on August 26
218 – Japan d Dominican Republic 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 30-32, 25-15, 15-13) on August 27