Sendai, Japan, July 14, 2017 - Japan played host to Thailand on Friday in Sendai, beating its Asian rival 3–1 in a close match, much to the delight of the home crowd. Japan had won the first round matchup between the two teams in a tough five-setter last weekend.
Japan coach, Nakada Kumi - “We had a trouble with Thailand’s speedy combos. Our service, which we worked on in training camp, was better than before. We play Serbia tomorrow, and they play an entirely different style, so we will try to do the best we can against that. […] This was our first match of the tournament here in Japan, and there was a lot of pressure, and I don’t think we played out best.”
Japan wing spiker, Risa Shinnabe - “Our first set was good today, but we didn’t play so well in the second set. Thailand’s combination volleyball is really good, and their middle and side are really speedy. We had a lot of fans in attendance today, so we’ll try to do our best for them again tomorrow.”
Thailand coach, Danai Sriwacharamaytakul - “During the game we tried to recover when in trouble, but we made a bunch of mistakes, so we couldn’t really do it. The quality of this match was really good, and I think the rest of this tournament will be a really great experience for our young players.”
Thailand captain, Pleumjit Thinkaow - “The tempo of the game was good today, but we made a few simple mistakes. Japan’s service was really strong, so we couldn’t receive as well as we’d like. We couldn’t play the combination volleyball that we’re used to.”
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