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Brazil victory confirms 10th consecutive finals appearanceAlmaty, Kazakhstan, August 18, 2013 – Brazil confirmed their place in the finals of the 2013 World Grand Prix with another straight-sets 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-10) win against Kazakhstan on Sunday.
Victory meant Brazil moved into second place in the preliminary round classiciation with 23 points, just behind undefeated China, and the South Americans will now make their 10th consecutive appearance in the finals of the World Grand Prix.
Brazil's middle blocker Thaisa Menezes produced a remarkable performance in both offence and defence to lead her team with 17 points, eight on attack and nine in blocks, which equalled the top performance of the whole preliminary round.
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| Brazil were undefeated in Almaty and head to their 10th consecutive WGP finals |
Home side Kazakhstan raced in a 4-0 lead at the start with Alena Omelchenko setting up a strong game in the middle while Irina Shenberger provided wing power, but they later committed some attacking errors and Brazil had an 8-7 lead at the first technical time-out.
The Brazilians tightened their defence at the net, with Thaisa and Danielle Lins producing collective blocking efforts. A reception error by Kazakhstan gave Brazil a 16-10 lead and Fernanda Rodrigues and Gabriela Braga Guimaraes attacked ferociously to keep Brazil in front. Sheilla Castro then closed out the first set 25-17 with a back-row attack.
Rodrigues continued to drive Brazil's scoring in the second set with her attacks from the wings as well as the backline, while Kazakhstan started to suffer with their floor defence and Brazil led 8-4 at the first technical time-out.
Castro showed her vintage form, fiercely attacking from various angles and it was down to Sana Jarlagassova to keep the home crowd interested with her attacks.
Setter Korinna Ishimtseva staged a successful solo block which narrowed Brazil's lead to 14-13 and Kazakhstan managed to score another three points after, but Brazil's solid attacks gave them the second set 25-16 and a 2-0 lead.
In the third set Brazil's blocking was again important with Menezes at the front to give them an early 8-0 lead. The Kazakhstan hitters tried to vary their angles to repair the damage but their efforts didn't help.
The home team failed to improve their level of play and Brazil pulled away to take the third set 25-10 and their third straight-sets victory against Kazakhstan in the World Grand Prix.
from (fivb.org)
