Iran 3 Kazakhstan 2

Iran women’s volleyball team drew the first blood at the Asian Women’s Volleyball Cup edging Kazakhstan 3-2 on Sunday in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

After a two-hour battle over the net in a tit-for-tat style of gaming, the Iranians succeeded to win the five-set thriller as their opening game of the tournament, IRNA reported.

Losing the first set 25-23, the Iranian women made a comeback to beat the Kazakhs 25-17 in the second period. The Kazakhs again overpowered Iran in the third set as they reached 25 while Iran fell back with only 19 points.

Iran retaliated in the fourth set, winning 25-23. In the last and decisive fifth set, the national women thrashed the Kazakhs 15-6 to win the first three points in their opening match.

Captain Maedeh Borhani-Esfahani won 29 points as the topscorer for Iran. She pulled the team to victory as both the top server and top spiker.

Iran’s second game on September 17 will be against the Philippines, making their debut in the games, and the third match will be opposite Australia the next day.

In the history of the competition, Iranian women have never climbed the podium. Sixth place in the 2016 games in Vietnam was their best so far.

China with four gold and one silver medal is the team with most titles. The second most-honored team is the host Thailand with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Pool A includes Japan, Thailand and South Korea while China, Vietnam and Taiwan are in the Pool B.