Thailand and Japan. Two of the greatest, strongest national women’s volleyball teams in the world. In this game, there were many great plays! The matches were all very close and I think the win could’ve been anyone’s.
Let’s talk about each head coach to start off. Kumi Nakada, former coach for Japan’s national women’s team, is a four-time Olympian. She won bronze in Los Angeles in 1984 during the Olympic games while she was still in high school! She was the first woman to compete at three Olympic games. Danai Sriwacharamaytakul, former head coach of Thailand’s national women’s team, has led the team to many victories including 3rd place in the Asian Cup in 2018. Both of these coaches have worked with their teams to overcome any challenges they may face. Many of those challenges are unexpected but they have prepared for that.
Now, let’s start talking about the women’s Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, also known as FIVB, Volleyball Nations League, the fifth and final match of Japan vs. Thailand. This game took place in Nakhon Ratchasime, Thailand, on June 7, 2018.
During this final match, we could see many incredible actions made by both teams on both offense and defense. When Thailand was ahead 2 points of Japan, Japan started to do everything they could to stop Thailand from getting another point and coming closer to the match point. Japan won the point, but the game isn’t over yet. They still need to get ahead and win by 2 points. This may sound easy but not if you’re going up against one of the greatest national teams in the world. Thailand received the ball and set the ball to the right side who then attacked but Japan’s block touched the ball and almost touched the ground when all of a sudden the defense specialist, also known as the DS, dove and dug the ball last second. During this match, there were many digs from both Japan and Thailand but some weren’t able to get to the ball in time.
The ending match included many incredible saves and attacks, but there could only be one winner. The points kept volleying back and forth and in the end, Japan won with an incredible attack from the outside that Thailand couldn’t quite receive.