Former T&T senior women’s national team volleyballer Sinead Jack-Kisal and Eczacıbaşı Dynavit open their campaign at the 16th FIVB Women’s Club World Championship with a straight sets win over 2023 South American Club Championship runners-up Gerdau Minas of Belo Horizonte at the Tianjin People’s Gymnasium in China Thursday.
With China’s Tianjin Bohai Bank's convincing 25-22, 25-16, 25-20 sweep of their first Pool A game against Brazil’s Gerdau Minas of Belo Horizonte on Wednesday, the onus was now on the latter to get a win to stay in the competition.
However, Jack-Kisal and two-time winners Eczacibasi Dynavit had other ideas and coasted to a 25-19, 25-11, 25-18 victory in their first game of the Club World Championship.
This way, the Turkish side qualified for the semifinals for the seventh time in the history of the competition, also pushing hosts Tianjin Bohai Bank forward to the last four for the first time in the Chinese club’s three appearances ahead of their pool decider today while Gerdau Minas ended bottom of the group with a 0-2 record.
Eczacibasi hammered out as many as eight aces towards their success, against none for Gerdau Minas with the Europeans' attack making a huge difference in the match, bringing in 43 points to the winners and only 24 to the team from Belo Horizonte.
For the winners, Serbian opposite and captain Tijana Boskovic topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 17 points, including, two aces while Russian outside Irina Voronkova impressed with four aces and two kill blocks towards a 13-point tally, Hande Baladin added nine, Jack-Kisal seven and Alexa Gray in a well-balanced offensive display.
On the opposite side of the net none of Gerdau’s players managed to get close to the double digits with Kisy Nascimento the best scorer with seven points and the quartet of Priscila Zalewski Daroit, captain Thaisa Menezes. Julia Kudiess and Paola Yonkaira had five points each in their second straight loss to exit the competition.
With both teams already assured of a spot in Saturday's semifinals, Eczacıbaşı Dynavit and Tianjin Bohai Bank will meet for first place in the final Pool A standings from 7.30 am Friday.
Also Thursday, in Pool B Dentil Praia Clube achieved a straight-set 25-10, 25-22, 27-25 victory over Sport Center I Women's Club, outplaying the opponents from the serving line (8-0 in aces) and in offence (52-31 in attack kills), while both sides managed to raise six kill blocks each during the match.
With this result, the squad from Uberlandia secured a spot among the semifinalists for only the second time in history, and at least matched their previous best result in the competition, a fourth place in 2018, staying on track for their first podium.
Dentil Praia’s opposite Tainara Santos hammered out a 24-point match high, including two aces, while Russian outside Sofya Kuznetsova added another 12 points for the winners, including two blocks and an ace. Thi Nhu Quynh Vi with 14 points and Tu Linh Tran with 11 were Sport Center I’s leading scorers.
Friday at 2 am, Dentil Praia will challenge four-time club world champions VakifBank Spor Kulubu of Turkey in a direct duel for the first place in the final Pool B standings.
Thursday's results
Pool A:
Eczacibasi Dynavit bt Gerdau Minas 25-19, 25-11, 25-18
Pool B
Dentil Praia Clube bt Sport Center I 25-10, 25-22, 27-25
Remaining Pool matches
Friday (December 15)
VakifBank Spor Kulubu vs Dentil Praia Clube, 2 am
Tianjin Bohai Bank vs Eczacibasi Dynavit, 7.30 am
Saturday (December 16)
Semifinals: 2 am & 7.30 am
Sunday (December 17)
Third place and final playoffs: 2 am & 7.30 am.