Ismailia, Egypt, September 12, 2019 - Brazil, USA, China and Italy will vie for the medals of the 109 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship as the competition peaks with semifinals here on the banks of the Suez Canal on Friday followed by finals on Saturday's, following some incredible action in the quarterfinals today.
Over in the Egyptian capital Cairo, meanwhile, the battle is truly on as twelve teams jostle for position in classification matches for positions 9 to 16 and 17 to 20.
Semifinals on Friday
• Brazil v USA
• China v Italy
All four semifinalists were teams who played their pool matches in Ismailia over the previous days, competing in pools A and B.
Brazil's Livia Gomes and Ana Cristina Menezes stop Russia's Valeriia Gorbunova as the South Americans make the semifinals of the 2019 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship in Ismailia.
Brazil made the day for all in attendance as they incredibly came back from two sets down to hand Russia their first defeat in the tournament.
Brazil are the only of the semifinalists not on a perfect record, having lost to China in pool play.
Previously in Ismailia, China had claimed the first ticket to the semifinals with a sweep of Romania.
And USA found the way to overcome Japan's resilience, fighting from a set down to win their quarterfinal clash in four.
Defending champions Italy wrapped up the day in Ismailia crushing Peru in straight sets in what was the quickest of the four quarterfinals.
Japan meet Russia and Romania play Peru Friday in Ismailia for positions 5-8.
China's Wu Mengjie gets the ball through the Romania block of Francesca Alupei and Andreea Murar as the Asians advance to the medals round of the 2019 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship in Ismailia.
Turkey, Bulgaria, Argentina, Egypt advace for 9 to 12The race for positions 9-16 picked up in Cairo, with Sabire Karacaova scoring a match high 17 points as Turkey came back from a set down to outblock (11-1) and outserve (12-3) Korea for a 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-11) win.
For positions 9-12 Turkey now play Argentina, who advanced with a 3-1 (25-10, 25-17, 22-25, 25-15) win over Argentina, powered by Bianca Cugno's 20 match high 20 points.
Bulgaria found some tough resistance from Canada but closed their game 3-1 (25-17, 24-26, 25-16, 25-23) to advance for places 9-12.
It was 53 unforced errors from the North Americans that made the difference as Maria Yordanova once again top-scored for the Balkan side.
Bulgaria next face hosts Egypt, who just barely managed to hold off Thailand after the Asian side came back from two sets down to force a tie-break and then blew two set balls before succumbing 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 18-16).
Egypt clinched the game on the second match point of their own, when Farida Elhenawy blocked Aungkana Pasang for the last point. Elhenawy and Ayah Elnady each scored 17 points for Egypt, May Abdelmaguid adding another 16, but the high scorer of the match was Saowapha Soosuk who bagged 25 for Thailand.
Belarus close in on 17th
Belarus made a huge leap towards 17th place with a very tight 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-23). The Europeans were led by Kseniya Liabiodkina and Darya Borys who scored 16 points each. Mexico's Melanie Parra was the high scorer of the game with 28 points for the North Americans.
And Cameroon prevailed in the African derby 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-23) over Congo, who remain winless and setless after six matches. Ruth Bibinbe scored 16 points for the winners.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship
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