Vielka Peralta of the Dominican Reoublic gets the ball through the block of Egypt's Aya Ahmed and Aya Elshamy on the opening day of the 2017 FIVB Women's U23 World Championship in Ljubljana.
Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 10, 2017 - Plucky Egypt stunned three-time medallists Dominican Republic with a great performance at Arena Stozice here on Sunday, but the 'Queens of the Caribbean' persevered for a 4-2 (12-15, 15-6, 15-8, 15-12, 15-17, 19-17) win on the opening day of the 2017 FIVB Women's U23 World Championship.
Coach Wagner Pacheco brought on middle blocker Angelica Hinojosa for Geraldine Gonzalez after the first set in an attempt to turn the tide - though the Africa side still made the Dominican Republic work very hard for their victory.
All matches in Ljubljana are played under a
new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
Egypt's Farida El Askalany tries to get past the Dominican block of Jineiry Martinez and Gaila Gonzalez Sunday in Ljubljana.Egypt had a 7-10 lead in the sixth to take the match all the way and then blew four set points at 11-14 and 14-15, but the Dominican Republic clawed their way back and brought the match home after their third match point on cross-court attack by Jineiry Martinez from the right.
Aya Elshamy became the second player in the history of the competition to score at least 30 points in a match, despite the new rules. The Egypt opposite bagged exactly 30 to emerge top scorer of the game. Gaila Gonzalez with 24 was the Dominican Republic's best scorer.
The only other player to reach the 30-point mark was Italy's Valentina Diouf in a 3-2 win over Japan in 2013.
Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017
FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - ScheduleFIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - Teams
FIVB.com - VolleyballFIVB.com
Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia Guides