The Japan's women volleyball team kept its slim hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals alive with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-12) victory over Kenya in their Pool B match on Saturday, August 3 at South Paris Arena 1.
After dropping its first two pool matches to Poland and Brazil, Japan needed a three-set win over Kenya and then help from another team to move to the last eight.
With Saturday's result the path for that possibility became clear: France must beat the United States 3-0 in their final Pool A contest on Sunday, August 3, for Japan to go through.
In the first and third sets, Japan dominated, but was pushed in the second, only pulling away in the final few points. Japan excelled on attack throughout the match and blocked especially well in the final set.
Captain Sarina Koga, in what was likely her final game for the national team, scored a team-high 16 points. Mayu Ishikawa added 10 points in the victory.
Veronica Oluoch had a match-high 17 points for Kenya, with Belinda Barasa contributing 11 points in the loss.
Japan took advantage of 21 Kenyan errors in the game, while committing just seven of its own.
"The previous two matches were difficult, so we could enjoy this one," Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe stated after the triumph. "Koga did her best as the captain. We have to see what happens tomorrow."
Emotional Moment After Volleyball Match
Koga dropped to the court with emotion after the final point and was surrounded by her supportive teammates who eventually helped her to her feet.
"Today could have been the last game or not, we were not sure," Koga commented. "We had to rebuild our spirit with a positive mindset. I am glad we could win this game."
Added Koga, "I am the captain and I just played like myself because I like volleyball. It has been hard for us since the first match. I'm glad that we could reset our minds and play better today."
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
