Outside hitter and captain Mayu Ishikawa led the winners with 19 points, including two of the team’s three aces in the match. Opposite Yukiko Wada added another 15 points, while the other outside, Yoshino Sato, finished with 13.
“Yesterday, I was at the Thailand v Netherlands game. It was a fantastic atmosphere. So, I am looking forward to the match against the home team,” Japan’s Turkish head coach Ferhat Akbas told VBTV. “The first two games were very difficult for us because of our injuries, but today our injured players played well, so it was a happy day for us. Victory is always good, regardless of whether it was important for the ranking or not. Now we need to focus on the next game.”
Serbia did better than Japan in net defense by 10-6 in kill blocks and in serving by 4-3 in aces. They also had the best scorer of the match in 21-year-old outside Aleksandra Uzelac, who finished with 20 points. Middle blocker Maja Aleksic put away four kill blocks and an ace to finish with a total of 11 points. Opposite Vanja Bukilic, who replaced injured star Tijana Boskovic, also reached the double digits with 10 points, including two aces and two kill blocks.