Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, April 25, 2023 – Fired-up Altay VC, powered by prolific Sana Anarkulova, survived a scare from Diamond Food Fine Chef-Air Force, the team they had beaten in straight sets in the first round last year, to stun the Thai side with comeback 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-14, 15-11) victory on the opening day of the 2023 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium here on Tuesday.
Sana scored a match high 27 points from 24 attacks and 3 kill blocks for Altay, while Wipawee Srithong led Diamond Food with 23 points including 22 attacks.
Altay VC were strong with the likes of promising outside hitter and captain Sana, who landed the MVP Award and the Best Outside Spiker in the 2021 and 2022 editions respectively. Two Serbians, setter Andela Veselinovic and Sara Sakradzija, and opposite Tatyana Nikitina also proved to be strong players to be reckoned with in the Kazakh side, which captured their unprecedented Asian Club title in 2021.
Diamond Food, former consecutive two-time Thailand League winners and bronze medallists at the last year’s Asian Women’s Club Championship in Kazakhstan, also fielded a strong lineup led by former world-class player and highly-skilled setter Nootsara Tomkom. Also strengthening the Thai side were powerful hitter Sasipaporn Janthawisut, middle blocker Tichakorn Boonlert, two of them joined the Thailand national team at the VNL the previous year, opposite Wipawee Srithong, another middle blocker Kaewkalaya Kamulthala and the 193cm-tall Serbian Natasa Cikiriz.
Altay opened up the opening set with three straight points, with Tatyana firing a sharp attack and Sana successfully blocking Sasipaporn’s powerful spike. After that, the game was very competitive, with neither side able to leave their opponents with more than two points. However, Sasipaporn and Natasa combined well for their attacking spree to help the Thai side to even it at 12-12. Their excellent defensive game also worked out pretty well and Dimond Food gradually broke away with a two-point advantage to lead 19-17.
Diamond Food’s solid blocks, exceptional attacks by Natasa, Wipawee and Sasipaporn helped the team stretch their lead to 24-21. Middle blocker Valeriya Chumak saved one set point for Altay with her lightning fast spike before Wipawee came from behind to devastatingly attack the opponents for the hard-fought 25-22 win in the first set.
Going down one set, Altay tried hard to make a comeback in the…
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