Thailand captain Pleumjit Thinkaow looks to beat the Germany defence
Ningbo, China, June 12, 2016 - Thailand wrapped up the first weekend of the 2016 FIVB World Grand Prix by claiming their first win from three matches, defeating Germany 3-1 (16-25, 28-26, 25-22, 25-16). Just like on the straight sets defeat to China on Saturday, Kongyot Ajcharaporn was the best scorer of her team.
Ajcharaporn proved again to be one of the strongest weapons of Thailand, scoring 21 points for her team. Comparing to the match against China, the player added four points in block. On Germany's side Lisa Izquierdo led the team scoring 14 points. Her team comes out of the weekend with three defeats and only one set to their name.
This was the 10th encounter between both teams in the World Grand Prix. Although Germany holds a record of wins (seven), Thailand improved their record to three, including the last two in a row. So far none of the matches between Thailand and Germany was resolved in five sets.
Germany took an early, impressive lead 5-0, but not without a hand from Thai side and their errors. With the help of Kongyot Ajcharaporn Thailand came closer, but Germany kept the 8-5 lead at the first TTO. Although Thailand began to play better, Germany maintained its advantage to 16-11. Lisa Izquierdo and Poll Jana's great play at the end allowed Germans to close the set at 25-16.
The second part began with a tight play point by point, until the first TTO when Thailand went 8-6 ahead. Ajcharaporn yet again stood up to extend the lead to 12-9, but Germany, led in this part of the match by Jana, tied at 13-13 and went 16-14 ahead at the second TTO. Both teams kept the score close, but two blocks, an ace and unsuccessful challenge call by Germany gave Thailand 21-17. Germany didn't give up, leveling at 24-24. It took Thailand three set points to finish the second set at 28-26.
Just like in the previous set, the game started point by point, with a slight lead of Germany 8-7. Team from Europe managed to maintain it to 10-7, with point scored by Izquierdo. Germans kept it until 15-12, but couldn't make it to the second TTO as Thailand leveled at 15-15 and went ahead 16-15. From that point Asians dominated the game, finishing the set at 25-22.
The come back in the third set boosted Thailand's confidence and team hit hard in the fourth set, leading by 8-4 at the first TTO. Nervous moves on Germany's side forced the team to make some errors, but they managed to stop Thailand from increasing the point advantage. Ajcharaporn made it to 16-12 and her block increased the dominance to 18-12. Motivated by the point difference, Thai kept the control over the match finishing at 25-16.