FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship finished in the best possible way as the final match was an incredible contest between Dominican Republic and Brazil, with the first earning a world title for the first time in their lives, triggering a crazy celebration from Caribbean fans in Puerto Rico.
The gold medal match was beyond the wildest expectations, as Brazil and Dominican Republic struggled for five exhausting sets. Brazil even had two championship points, but they failed to close it and the Dominicans were relentless to stamp the 3-2 (17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 24-26, 16-14).
MVP Brayelin Martinez emerged as top scorer of the entire competition after leading her side in the final match with an amazing total of 32 points. Brazilian Lorenne Geraldo, in the last game of the tournament, broke all scoring records with 39 smashes, even when they fell short of the glory for a couple of points. Nevertheless, Brazil gathered their 13th medal at this age group, being 6 golden ones, 5 silvered and 2 made of bronze.
A perfect appetizer was provided by Japan and Italy at the bronze medal match, with the latter prevailing in a hard-fought 3-0 (28-26, 25-22, 25-19) that meant their third access to the podium. Before this third place, Italy were champions in 2011 and had also a silver medal way back, in 1997. A 17-point total of stuff blocks acted as the key to fight against the tireless defence of Japan, who dropped to the fourth position after being runner-ups two years ago.
Playing for the fifth place in Juncos, Serbia lost the first set against Peru but then successfully recovered to celebrate 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-23) and improve two steps from 2013. Sara Lozo, Maja Aleksic and Bojana Milenkovic formed a vital trio to break Peru in very close chapters. Meanwhile, Russia pulled out a final comeback to grab the seventh place over Bulgaria 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 15-9), despite an awesome harvest of 33 points by Bulgarian super-scorer Gergana Dimitrova.
In Maunabo, China avenged their loss of a few days ago against Turkey and won 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 26-24) to seize the ninth place of the standings. Before that, Chinese Taipei secured the 11th spot defeating Czech Republic 3-1 (26-24, 25-15, 22-25, 25-19).
Completing the final ranking, in Gurabo, Cuba ended on a high as they outlasted Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-7) to sit on the 13th place. And it was a sweet finish for Mexico as well, landing 15th with their first victory of the competition – a 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18) over Egypt, which went home winless.
Final Positions
1. Dominican Republic
2. Brazil
3. Italy
4. Japan
5. Serbia
6. Peru
7. Russia
8. Bulgaria
9. China
10. Turkey
11. Chinese Taipei
12. Czech Republic
13. Cuba
14. Puerto Rico
15. Mexico
16. Egypt
All-Star Team
Setter: Misaki Shirai – Japan
First Outside Spiker: Brayelin Martinez – Dominican Republic
Second Outside Spiker: Bojana Milenkovic – Serbia
First Middle Blocker: Maja Aleksic – Serbia
Second Middle Blocker: Anna Danesi – Italy
Opposite: Lorenne Geraldo – Brazil
Libero: Zhana Todorova – Bulgaria
Most Valuable Player: Brayelin Martinez – Dominican Republic
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(images: FIVB)