Ankara, Turkey, August 15, 2015 – Colombia blanked Egypt 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 26-24) in Saturday’s opening match of Pool A. It was the first triumph for the South Americans in their fourth match at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U23 World Championship in Ankara, Turkey. Egypt still remain winless with a 0-4 win-loss record.
In the duel between the two last ranked teams of Pool A, Ivonne led the Colombian side with 15 points, including two aces. Amanda added 12 kills. Egypt’s most scorer was Aya Elshamy with 14 points. Colombia controlled spikes (45-34), blocks (5-4) and serves (4-3).
Colombia quickly led 8-4 at the first technical timeout in set one. Ivonne and Amanda displayed their excellent attacking kills while the African side struggled with passing and an effective offense. 4-10 errors may have been another reason for Colombia’s easy 25-14 set win.
Egypt had their best moments early in the second set. The score was tight until 9-9 before Colombia – with a four-point run until 16-11 – regained control of the match. The Africans did their best to resist but couldn’t stop the powerful Colombian spikers. Amanda ended the second set at 25-19 to give the South Americans a comfortable 2-0 set lead.
The Africans – however – showed their fighting spirit until the last points of the match. Trailing several points during the whole set, Egypt bounced back strongly. The team of coach Pantchev Strahil equalized at 24-24 but eventually couldn’t prevent Colombia from sealing the third set 26-24 and the match 3-0.