Junior Women’s Team Advances to Quarterfinals

The Iran women’s volleyball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 12th Asian Women’s U17 Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, on Tuesday.

In their first match of the group stage Iran beat New Zealand in style. Keeping the harmony between defense and offence, Iran won the match 3-0, ISNA reported.

Iran finished the first set 13 points ahead of the Kiwis 25-12. In the second set the young women kept the spirit up to grab the 25-20 win over their rivals.

New Zealand’s team had nothing to do even in the last set where they accepted the loss against Iran 25-17.

However, the Iran squad was not at its best in their second match as they lost 3-2 to Australia although they had won the first two sets.

Iranians started with a 25-22 win in a breath-taking match. The second set too ended well for Iran with the result 25-20 giving the feeling that Iran was close to victory.

But fortunes changed and the Aussies took the lead in the third period 25-19. Iran strived to take the game back but lost the fourth set 25-21 so the two teams were level regarding the number of sets won.

In the decisive fifth set the Aussies trounced Iran 15-9. Nevertheless, with one win and one loss, Iran qualified from its group and made it to the quarterfinals as the second team of the group with Australia.

The biennial international volleyball tournament is organized by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and will conclude May 27. A total of twelve teams are attending.

Host country Thailand along with Iran, Kazakhstan, India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia are participating in the tournament.