Mexico City, Mexico, July 26, 2014 - Mexico beat Algeria 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) in a little more than an hour in Pool Q to win their first match in the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in Mexico City on Saturday.
Key Points
• The win is Mexico’s first in the World Grand Prix after they lost their debut match against Kenya on Friday.
• After winning their first two sets in the World Grand Prix yesterday against Bulgaria, Algeria again lost in straight-sets after losing all of their matches in last year’s competition 3-0.
• It was the first time these two teams had met in a main competition.
• Mexico next play Bulgaria while Algeria play against fellow African team Kenya.
The first set started evenly, with Algeria blocking well. Mexico captain Claudia Rios led her team’s offence and with help from Lizbeth Sainz, Zaira Orellana and Jocelyn Urias jMexico took control of the set and went on to win it 25-19.
Algeria jumped ahead early in the second and they gained in confidence took more confidence while Mexico struggled defensively. With Aicha Mezemate and captain Lydia Oulmou, Algeria took a comfortable lead, while Mexican coach Jorge Azair was forced to call a time out with Algeria leading 13-9. Mexico’s Sainz managed to score aggressively and breach the gap for the hosts and as the set progressed, Mexico took control to win the second set 25-22.
Algeria’s Mouni Abderrahim performance was significant early in the third set as her team led 8-6 at the first technical time out. Mexico’s blockers were able to tie the score but Algeria refused to concede. Dulce Carranza was scoring well for Mexico and they pushed to a slight lead in the middle parts of the set.
Mexico had too much for Algeria though and they won the third set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
Sainz led Mexico’s scorers with 17 points, 15 in kills and 2 from blocks. Rios added 11 points for Mexico while for Algeria, their captain Lydia Oulmou scored a team-high 8 points.
Mexico City, Mexico, July 25, 2014. - Bulgaria beat Algeria in five sets (25-15, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 19-17) in their World Grand Prix Pool Q opener at the Olympic Gymnasium Juan de La Barrera in Mexico City.
Key Points
• Bulgaria have started their second World Grand Prix in positive fashion, after coming ninth in their debut campaign with six wins and three losses.
• Algeria registered their first winning sets in the World Grand Prix, having lost all nine of their matches in their debut World Grand Prix last season in straight sets.
• Bulgaria play Kenya next in Pool Q while Algeria’s next match is against Mexico.
• Bulgaria are automatically qualified for the Final Four in Group 3 thanks to organising the event in Sarnokov.
Bulgaria jumped to an early 5-0 lead, forcing Algeria coach Francois Salvagin to ask for a time out. Algeria started to find their rhythm as things warmed up, but Bulgaria continued with a comfortable lead the entire set to win 25-15.
It turned around for Algeria in the second set as they took a 4-0 lead and it was Bulgaria coach Ivan Petkov who asked for an early time out. Algeria maintained the lead with hard work and reached the second technical time out up by two points. Some Bulgaria errors along the way saw Algeria win the set 25-22, their first ever winning set in the World Grand Prix.
The third set was a close affair early on but Bulgaria eventually won it 25-18 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Both sides maintained their intensity in the fourth set but Algeria pushed ahead to an 8-2 lead. Saphia Boukhima scored two important points as Algeria took the lead late in the set to stretch the match into a fifth set thanks to a 25-23 fourth-set win.
Neither side could take control of the fifth as both teams looked to start their 2014 World Grand Prix campaign in style. The score remained close throughout, but it was a dramatic 19-17 win in favour of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria topped Algeria with a 62-57 advantage in kills and a huge margin of 12-4 in blocking. Algeria was better in the service category by 3-1.
Bulgaria’s Desislava Nikolova led all scorers with 19 points, while her teammates Nasya Dimitrova added 16 points and Slavina Koleva scored 14 points.
Algeria had four players with double figures, led by Lydia Oulmou with 18 points, Safia Boukhima scored 15, Kahina Arbouche added 14 and Yasmine Abderrahim scored 10 points.
Bulgaria’s next match is against Kenya while Algeria play Mexico.
