Callao, Peru, August 13, 2015 – Russia defeat Japan and advanced to quarterfinals of the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship at Miguel Grau on Thursday.
Daria Ryseva, captain of Russia: We are very happy to have won; Japan is such a difficult team to beat, so technical, so disciplined. It was key for us to keep calm and play the match one point at the time, never quit.
Mandai Manami, Japanese captain: We feel so much impotence; we wanted to make it past the round of 16. We committed a lot of mistakes in the game and that prevented for us to get the win. We are sure this will help us grow as a team and be better every day.
Svetlana Safronova, coach of Russia: It was a very complicated match to win. Historically face-offs between Russia and Japan are very much alike, the strategy is very much the same, Russia has to hit very hard for Japan not to make their fast plays, however their defence is impressive. We have to make our height count in this type of game make the better use of our block.
Saegusa Daichi, Japan’s head coach: Russia is a strong team on the net, their block and spikes are deadly, that put too much pressure on us since the beginning. In the fourth set our game and our attitude improved but it unfortunately was not enough to win the match.