Chatchu-On fires 33 points for the win
Thailand won the first five-setter of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022. In a Pool B encounter with the world’s sixth-ranked team Türkiye at the GelreDome in Arnhem on Saturday, outside hitter Chatchu-On Moksri hammered out 33 points towards a nail-biting 3-2 (17-25, 31-29, 22-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory.
In the first match of the pool on Friday evening, hosts Poland claimed a four-set win over Croatia. Later on Saturday, at 18:30 local time (16:30 GMT), the remaining two teams in the pool, the Dominican Republic and Korea will take to the court in Arnhem. The top four teams from each of the four round-robin pools will advance to the second pool phase of the tournament.
Chatchu-On’s match high of 33 points included three serving aces, two kill blocks and 28 spikes at a 51% success rate in attack. Turkish opposite Ebrar Karakurt was her team’s high scorer with 24 points to her name, including three aces and three blocks. Middle blocker and captain Eda Erdem impressed with five of Türkiye’s 15 stuffs in the match.
Thailand’s middle Thatdao Nuekjang kill-blocked for the first point of the match and spiked for the second, but Türkiye quickly caught up. Their middle Zehra Gunes aced for 5-4 to put her team in front for the first time. An even battle unfolded through 10-10, after which Gunes and Karakurt combined scored four consecutive points in a row, a block and a spike each, to widen the gap to 14-10. The Turks dominated the rest of the set. An ace by outside hitter Saliha Sahin extended their lead to seven points at 19-12 and finally an attacking error by Thailand finished the set off at 25-17 Türkiye’s way
Zehra Gunes attacks through the middle
Chatchu-On produced several break points early into the second set including an ace for a 6-3 Thai lead. Türkiye put away four points in a row to level it at 8-8, but Thailand responded immediately with a four-point series of their own to run off again with a 12-8 advantage. Karakurt produced an amazing series of three back-to-back aces to put her team in the lead at 17-16. Outside Hande Baladin added one more for 19-17. The Asians fought back to reach their first set point at 24-23 on an off-the-block hit by opposite Pimpichaya Kokram. With sub-in Ilkin Aydin on fire, the Turks denied five Thai set points and wasted one of their own until Chatchu-On’s off-the-block swing put an end to it all deep into the…
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