Lima, Peru, August 7, 2015 – Hosts Peru defeated a resilient Egypt 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23) in Pool A of the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship on Friday at Eduardo Dibos Coliseum.
Egyptians Mariam Morsy and Nada Meawad scored 25 and 22 points, respectively, but their big offensive effort was not enough. Katherine Regalado and Leslie Leyva charted 17 and 14 points in the Peruvian victory.
Peru led the locking category 15-6 with Maricarmen Guerrero scoring five and dominated 6-3 in the aces department.
In a close first set, Peru led 8-6 and 16-13 at the technical pauses but Egypt was able to equalize the score as both teams engaged in a battle point by point. At 25-all, Nicole Abreu scored with a spike and closed with an ace for the 27-25 difference.
Cheered by a partisan crowd, the home crowd retuned into action with new energy and was in front 8-6 and 16-10 in the second set. Peru widened the gap to 21-10 but Egypt came back to close within four points at 19-23. Peru won 25-20 with the spike by Regalado off the opponent’s block.
Peru led 8-5 at the first technical time-out but Egypt recovered to take the lead 16-13. The African champions were in front 20-16 and went on to take the set 25-20 when Peruvian Leyva crashed her serve into the net.
The home girls took 8-2 and 16-13 advantages into the technical time outs. Egypt came within one point of distance at 21-22 behind the attack of Morsy but Peru finally claimed the set 25-23 with a soft attack by Regalado that landed on the centre of the Egyptian side.