Cameroon continued with their poor run in the ongoing FIVB Women’s World Championship after falling by straight sets of 16-25, 24-26, 18-25 to Netherlands at a fully-packed Yokohama Arena in Japan on Monday.
This was the second defeat in a row for the African champions after losing 3-0 to Germany in their second round one matches.
Meanwhile, Kenya- Africa’s other representatives at this year tournament that has 24 teams competing- were also beaten 3-0 (20-25, 22-25, 15-25) by Puerto Rico in the other match of the day.
The Dutch jumped out for a venomous start, winning the opening set easily with Cameroon losing by nine points. Jean Rene Akono’s girls did their all to put up some resistance but were undone by a speedy and organized Netherlands.
It remained a one-sided affair in the following two sets with Jamie Marrison’s squad never looking back. Celeste Plak concluded Netherlands’s imposing firework with a blistering winner from the left to make it 3 to nothing.
Laetitia Mona was Cameroon’s best scorer in the match with one of her finest moments being when she pounded one through the center before her letting Mona send an angled spike from the right flashing across the court.
“At the beginning of the game our reception did not function too well and our libero had a tough time. She is not usually a libero, she is a middle blocker and she prepared for three months to play as libero, so overall I am very satisfied with her performance. We are learning from each match,” head coach Jean Rene Akono said after the match.
Skipper Christelle Nana added; “We gave our best but the result was disappointing, especially because we could have won the second set. We will focus on the next match and keep learning.”
Netherlands’s Celeste Plak emerged top scorer in this match with 23 points, including 21 swashbuckling spikes, while Laetitia Moma led Cameroon’s reply with 17 points including 14 spikes.
The Dutch matched Cameroon in serves, with Lionesses frontline consisting captain Christelle Nana, Laetitia Mona and Stephanie Fotso managing a total 20 blocks while Moma and Aboa also contributed their fair share of attacks against their opponents.
Netherlands coach Jamie Marrison noted that the Cameroonians were difficult for them as they played with a lot of energy and physical strength.
“It was a difficult match for us because we had the late match last night and spent a lot of energy and we did not sleep much because of the typhoon. Cameroon was a dangerous match and they have a lot of energy.”
