In Pool A Brazil stopped Poland, with result 3-1 (21-25 25-17 25-15 25-20). In second game USA with new team won with Russia also 3-1 (25-20 17-25 25-21 25-12).
At the beginning of the game Poland surprised Brazil by good spike and quite stable reception. After first set Brazilians keep their level, while Poland started making many mistakes mostly in reception. In forth set Poles back to the game, but only until second technical timeout. Then Brazil gained advantage and didn’t lose it. Poland made 22 errors, while Brazil only 11. Best scorer became OH Fernanda Garay with 20 points. From Poland definitely the best player was Katarzyna Skowrońska-Dolata with 16 points. Today she played as OH due to lack of good receivers in polish team. This trial had quite good result and can be even used in the future, when Skowrońska will play in Rabita Baku. There she can become OH next to good recivers: Aurea Cruz (OH, Puerto Rico) and Brenda Castillo (libero, Dominican Republic).
In second game new american team beat Russia. As we can see, no matter who plays there, results are brilliant. This time showed it Kelly Murphy (16 points), Kim Hill (15), Kristin Hildebrand (15) and Lauren Gibbemeyer (12). In Russia coach Yury Marichev changed lineup many times. Only reliable scorer was opposite Natalia Obmochaeva (Goncharova) (19 points). She didn’t have help neither from Outside Hitters, nor form middles. We could see Tatiana Kosheleva on court, but looking on her it’s quite certain that she’s not ready for play on this level after serious injuries. Disappointment here is also Maria Borodakova (MB), team captain, her performances last times were getting worse and worse. Only good sign for Russia except their OPP is new libero, 23-year-old Anna Malova.
