WARSAW, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Serbian women's volleyball team extended their winning streak to eight matches at the 2022 FIVB Women's World Championship, as the reigning champions beat Thailand in straight sets 25-23, 25-17, 25-15 in Lodz, Poland on Friday.
The team coached by Daniele Santaerelli was seen as a strong favorite and they handled the pressure. Opposite Ana Bjelica was the most prolific scorer with 15 points, while Pimpichaya Kokram poured in 8 for Thailand.
The Serbian players had some problems only in the opening set as they allowed Thailand to score 23 points. Then the favorites continued the momentum to control the match and win by 3-0.
"I am really happy because we won, we played well from the beginning through the end and we stayed focused the whole match. Thailand played really fast and I can say it's a little hard for us, but we organized our game well," outside hitter Bojana Milenkovic was quoted as saying by the official site of the competition.
In the evening match of Pool F, Poland outplayed Canada in a five-set thriller 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-5). The visitors turned out to be worthy opponents for the co-hosts of the tournament. However, in a tie-break, Poland took a domination to allow the rival to score just five points.
Opposite Magdalena Stysiak led the team to the triumph with 25 points, while outside hitter Kiera Van Ryk delivered 21 for Canada. ■
