Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan, June 27, 2015 – Kazakhstan staged a straight-set victory against Australia (25-20, 25-21, 25-8), in Pool N of FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix at the Zhastar Sports Palace on Saturday.
Kazakhstan coach Oleksandr Gutor said: “Australia has improved a lot in this match. Yesterday we were not playing with the best reception, but today we improved on that area. The important thing is that we won, even with some decisions and changes on rotating our players more.
Kazakhstan captain Korinna Ishimtseva said: “Australia was playing well in the first 2 sets, while our team was not playing perfectly. We just started to pick up the tempo so we were able to win the match.”
Australia coach Mark Barnard said: “The situation today was that we had some players injured. It was a different team and we couldn’t make any changes in the 3rd set. It’s because they started serving well. It was just unfortunate but I think for our players, they’ve got to learn to be tougher. It’s a lesson for the players. I hope tomorrow we sustain a high level for three sets or more, and not two.”
Australia captain Shae Sloane said: “It was very good game. Kazakhstan played too well for us but we were pretty happy with the way we played in the first 2 sets. We were competitive with them up until 20 and 21, but we just could not finish the set, unfortunately. Again, we have some things to improve on for tomorrow’s game against Algeria and for the next couple of weeks of the World Grand Prix.”