Lankan spikers suffer 3-0 defeat against Aussies
Australia scored a convincing 3-0 victory over Sri Lanka in the opening day of the 3rd Asian Men’s Under-23 Volleyball Championship 2019 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar yesterday.
Playing in the Group ‘A’, Australia had to fight all the way to achieve victory in the first set as the young Sri Lankans exhibited a high class of quality volleyball with power play. Scores were levelled on eight occasions and at last the Kangaroos ended as winners with a hard fought 29-27 win. But it was a different story in the second set. The fighting qualities of the Lankans had deserted them as they went down tamely to a 17-25 loss. Fitness played a major part in this set as the Lankans failed to match the power packed dashes and well placed serves of the Aussies.
Stepped on to the court with a new pattern of play the Lankans put up much improved display half way in the final set but failed to continue the momentum as Australia marched to a 25-14 win and to snatch the match.
Sri Lanka will meet hosts Myanmar today and they meet Hong Kong on Monday in their last preliminary round match.
The top four teams with the highest number of points will qualify to play in the final round.