Volero Zürich vs Bangkok Glass. INQUIRER PHOTO/Sherwin Vardeleon
Volero Zurich and Bangkok Glass are two teams on the far ends of the height spectrum—and it did not take long for that difference to show in the game.
“We are happy with the way we played, but the team from Europe is very tall,” said Bangkok Glass head coach Porncha Kittipong yesterday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Kittipong’s team fell in straight sets to Volero, 25-21, 25-19, 25-23, in the opening day of the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship and the third placers in the Asian club championships had to resort to speed to counter the height mismatch.
Average height
The average height of Volero is 188 centimeters while the tallest player of Bangkok Glass, Ashley Frazier, stands at 187 cm.
“Very difficult to play because they’re strong and tall, so we have to play faster than them,” said Pleumjit who had four points in the loss.
“It’s very difficult, we cannot block and they serve very well, so it was really really difficult,” said Kittipong.
It wasn’t just the Thais who noticed the height difference; Volero captain Natalya Mammakodva said that even with their height edge, they had to adjust to Bangkok Glass’ game.
“It’s not really easy against Thailand because they have a different style of play than Europe, they played good defense,” said Mammakodva. “The game was up and down and it took all we can to win.”