With Puerto Rico, the Yellow Tigers immediately faced a treacherous opponent in their World Cup opener. Belgium is twelfth in the world ranking, six places higher than the Puerto Ricans; it wouldn’t be a walk-over, predicted commentator Marc Willems.
But in set one, the Belgians immediately showed their mastery. Corner attacker Britt Herbots wanted to brighten up her birthday – she turns 23 today – with a win and pounded away. Defensively, the block with Lemmens, Van Avermaet and Janssens turned well, set one was won easily with 25-15.
Set two started less well for the Tigers. Puerto Rico immediately split and showed through Ocasio and Abercrombie that they also had a lot of offensive violence. The Tigers had to go all the way and were able to win set two after an exciting final: 27-25.
Until halfway through the third set, Puerto Rico was able to catch up, but then the Tigers were loose. A good block by Lemmens provided the first match point, a treacherous serve by Van De Vyver sealed the match. The Yellow Tigers will come into action again on Sunday: with Kenya they will hit a feasible card on paper.
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