Goncharova unleashes one of her 25 successful spikes on her way to top scoring with 29 points
Kaliningrad, Russia, June 9, 2016 – An incredible 29 points from
Russia's Nataliya Goncharova led the three-time champions to an opening win of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2016 with a 3-1 victory (25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16) over the Netherlands at DC “Yantarny” on Friday.
The 27-year-old continued where she left off last year where she topped the Best Scorer charts and was named the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2015 Best Opposite Spiker. She also finished second behind Korea's Kim Yeong-Koung in scoring at last year's World Cup so she is definitely in top scoring form, and she started Russia's 2016 World Grand Prix campaign in the same form.
The Netherlands' Lonneke Sloetjes was also in similar form going into the match having top scored in last month's World Olympic Qualification Tournament where the Netherlands' qualified for Rio 2016 and she also didn't disappoint, scoring 27 points herself.
Going into their opening matches of the World Grand Prix, Russia had the recent advantage over the Netherlands, winning five of their last six games over their opponents. In what was their first clash since 2009 in the World Grand Prix, both sides were looking to get off to a good start, with the home side looking to win the title for a fourth time, whilst Netherlands were looking to back up their sole victory from 2007.
The Netherlands claimed a slight advantage 3-5 in the early stages of the first set as Anne Buijs led from the front in front of a partisan home crowd. Russian errors led Netherlands continuing to edge in front before Irina Zaryazhko equalized the score by blocking 8-8. Netherlands looked to be claiming the advantage before a technical timeout, saw the home side re-group to level the scores. The stunned away side were now on the back foot and as the vocal crowd cheered Russia on, they were not about to let the lead slip as they took a 1-0 lead after a 25-22 win.
In the second set Russia started with excellent spikes from Zaryazhko to lead 3-2 but both teams fought hard to gain the advantage with the desire to win, an impressive facet of the game. Nataliya Goncharova by now was having an increasing influence in the game and Russia seemed to be heading towards doubling their advantage. However, like the first set, the side behind began to find their feet and the momentum saw the Netherlands, led by Lonneke Sloetjes, level the tie with a 25-20 win.
The third set started like a carbon copy of the previous one. Back court spikes from Yana Shcherban put Russia in front at 6-3. All efforts of the Netherlands to reduce the gap was buried by hitting errors as Russia increased their lead to 8-4. After the first technical timeout Netherlands started to pull back steadily thanks to spikes of Sloetjes but Goncharova made a sustained series of attacks from the wing to pull Russia away to a 17-10 lead. Netherlands with all their efforts and wishes decreased the gap 16-19 but Goncharova continued her impressive performance to lead from the front for a 2-1 lead after a 25-20 set win.
Russia were by now in full momentum mode and were looking to wrap up the tie early. Netherlands were not going to go down without a fight and fought to stay with the home side to level at 5-5. Russia began to edge their way in front to take a 12-8 lead but once again Sloetjes was keeping her side in the game. Russian coach Yury Marichev was forced to take a timeout, which proved vital, settling his team down as they re-grouped to pull towards victory. A brief blip allowed the Netherlands hope before it was extinguished, with a serve into the net, allowing Russia a 3-1 victory after a 25-16 set win.
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