The Netherlands celebrate their 3-1 win over Korea in their friendly match before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, July 26, 2016 – The Dutch women’s team will leave for Rio de Janeiro on Friday with confidence as they defeated Asian squad Korea 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-19) in a friendly match at the Omnisport Apeldoorn on Tuesday.
The venue brings back a lot of great memories for the Dutch team since 2015, as the team won all of their group matches in the European Championship, which proved to be the prelude to the stunning silver medal achievement in Ahoy.
On Tuesday night, the Netherlands had 2,100 home fans backing them up at the Omnisport, where the team were led by solid starters Laura Dijkema, Lonneke Sloetjes, Maret Balkestein-Grothues, Anne Buijs, Robin de Kruijf, Quinta Steenbergen and libero Debby Stam-Pilon.
The Netherlands tried to redeem their 3-1 loss to Korea on Monday and successfully accomplished their goal before they leave for the Olympic Games. They opened the match with a commanding 8-3 lead after a powerful display by De Kruijf. Buijs joined in the scoring to push a 13-5 lead that forced Korea to call a timeout. Dijkema orchestrated their plays with a lot of flair, until she dished out a quick play for Balkestein-Grothues that sealed the first set 25-17.
Korean star Kim Yeon-Koung brought Korea back in the match with her powerful spikes and helped her team to level the score at 18-all. Korea had better initiative in the second frame and gained a two-point margin at 24-22 until a service error by the Netherlands gave them the set 25-22. In the third set, the Dutch picked up the pace with Myrthe Schoot and Celeste Plak taking the libero and outside spiker duties, respectively. Sloetjes and Kruijf had an excellent service game, which led to a 21-10 lead by the Netherlands, then a strong cross-court spike by Sloetjes secured them the third set victory 25-16.
Judith Pietersen and Deanna Stoltenberg saw action in the fourth set. De Kruijf continued to prevail at the net as she ripped through the opponents’ defence. The Netherlands protected their lead until Sloetjes delivered the final hammering attack the sealed set and match victory 25-19.