Coming off a loss to Pool B leader Vietnam, Kazakhstan rebounded with a resounding 25-17, 25-13, 25-22 win over youthful Indonesia to stay in the hunt for a semifinals ticket in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.
The Kazakhs improved to 2-1, tying Hong Kong for second to third seeds. They will duke it out tomorrow at 1:00 PM for a spot in the crossover semis.
With this victory – along with Hong Kong’s triumph earlier against Singapore – Vietnam has secured its place in the semifinals.
“I was ready to help my team and I was ready to get the reception, and I wanted to win this game because it was so important for us because we lost yesterday,” said outside hitter Kristina Belova on the victory.
“The first option for us is win, this is the main goal,” she said on their mentality versus Hong Kong tomorrow.
Seventeen-year-old Junaida Santi drew loud cheers from the Filipino crowd due to her smashing ways. She carried the fight for the Indonesians in the third set, with her through-the-block spike tying things up at 21.
However, two errors from Indonesia along with an off-the-block kill by Zhanna Syroyeshkina and a solid block by Irina Kuznetsova on Putri Agustin gave Kazakhstan the win in one hour and 17 minutes.
Syroyeshkina dominated the field with 23 points on an efficient 19-of-25 clip on attacks while also getting four service aces.
Team captain Sana Anarkulova also contributed nine points for Kazakhstan.
Santi delivered a team-high nine points for Indonesia while Agustin and Sabrina Agustina produced eight and seven points, respectively.
