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Brit Lynne Beattie receives against Montenegro | Sheffield, England, - Great Britain recorded their first-ever World Championship win as they edged Montenegro in a tense four-set match (26-24, 26-24, 21-25, 25-20) to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the next round from Group B at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield.
The British team recovered after trailing 15-21 in the opening set to claim the first two sets and, when Montenegro came back, stamped their authority on the fourth set by building up a 9-3 lead.
Montenegro kept coming back but Janine Sandell, UK’s main hitting weapon, produced two power hits late in the set to keep the momentum with the home team.
A serving error from Ksenija Ivanovic brought the Brits their first match point and then the same player hit weakly into the net to give Lorne Sawula’s side the win.
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The most pleasing thing for me was the mental toughness my team showed,” head coach Sawula said, “You can see this team is still on a learning curve but they are reaping the benefit of the training and effort they have put in. It was a real team effort today and I now have some strength on the bench I can also turn to. I thought my setter Lucy Wicks had her best game for a while. She ran the speed of the offence well. We are not a power team and we knew Montenegro is a good blocking team, so the role of the setter was very important.”
Montenegro looked to have control of the opening set when Ivanovic penetrated the British block to make it 23-20 but the home team dug deep to take the set. The impressive Sandell produced the first set point with a terrific hit to make it 24-23 and the Brits eventually took the set 26-24. The second set also went the distance - this time with Great Britain surrendering a 23-21 lead - but they held their nerve again to make it 2-0. It was little different in the third set but Ivanovic’s power again proved significant and successive hitting errors by Jennifer Taylor and Rachel Laybourne deep in the set helped Montenegro’s cause.
But Great Britain then managed to shake off the loss and came out with all guns blazing in the fourth set, leading 5-1 and then 9-3 but Montenegro could not be completely shaken off.
It took Sandell to step up to the plate with two big hits to take the score from 20-18 to 22-18 and regain the upper hand and close out the match.
“Congratulations to Great Britain for the win. It was an excellent match and, as a young side, we feel satisfied with our performance,” said Ivanovic. “We did not perform in our opening match against Israel and this was much better and we can take a lot from this match. We knew we had nothing to lose coming into this match and there is a lot of promise for such a young team.”
Israel remain in control of the group after a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 27-25) win over Portugal. There was a major surprise in that Anna Velikiy, who picked up a serious ankle injury in Friday’s win over Montenegro, was able to play a cameo role, coming on at the end of the second and third sets. She was even able to make a block to give Israel their second match point and it was an unexpected bonus for the team.
The win means they can afford to lose their final match to Great Britain 3-1 and still qualify.
It is not a scenario that captain Tatjana Frage wants: “We are athletes and we play to win. We do not play to win part of a match - we play to win the whole match. Mentally, it gave us all a lift having Anna in the team as we did not expect it. I think her block was the best of the whole match as it was a very important point.”
Coach Arie Selinger admitted: “I can’t believe the job the medical staff did as Anna’s ankle was badly swollen on Friday and we did not expect her back so soon. I only decided to play her shortly before the match when she came and told me we wanted to play. Now we must face Great Britain in front of a big home crowd but that can also help my players.”
Portugal had trouble throughout the match getting past Israel’s towering block but Ana Paulo and Juliana Antunes both had some success and Portugal were unfortunate not to take the mach to a fourth set. They led 19-16 but a handling error brought it back to 19-19 and the teams traded points at the death. Paulo gave Portugal a 22-21 lead but Israel kept coming back and would not be mentally tough enough. Paulo saved two match points with explosive hits down the line but then volleyed marginally out of court on the third match point as Israel clinched victory.
“Israel played with good tactics and discipline,” said Juan Diaz, the Portuguese coach, “But this is a new team and we were up against some experienced players. We knew it was going to be difficult and we put a lot into it and my players will learn a lot from this.”
Results
Great Britain vs. Montenegro 3-1 (26-24, 26-24, 21-25, 25-20)
Portugal vs. Israel 0-3 (25-16, 25-18, 27-25) | |
