The Athens 2004 silver medalist the Netherlands clinched the bronze medal dominating an unconfident Slovenian team 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 26-24) in the Women's Sitting Volleyball bronze medal match at the CAU (China Agricultural University) Gymnasium on Sunday.
Slovenia looked insecure and down on energy, with captain and top scorer Anita Urnaut playing inconsistently throughout the match. The Netherlands took advantage of their opponents' weakness, attacking with Djoke van Marum, Karin Harmsen-Rosen, Petra Westerhof and Elvira Stenissen.
The first set was mostly defensive on both sides of the court, with the two teams struggling to react to the attacks coming from the opponents and having digging and ball handling errors that did not help to build an effective counterattack.
However, the Netherlands suffered fewer inaccuracies than Slovenia, directing the set easily and surrendering only to a few attacks by Suzana Ocepek, Sasa Kotnik and Alenka Sart. A long serve by Danica Gosnak gave the first set to Netherlands.
The Netherlands offense showed more stamina in the second set with van Marum and Harmsen-Rosen, while Slovenia tried to react with attacks by Ocepek. Urnaut did not help to raise the scoring rate and had problems in ball handling.
A shot by Petra Westerhof of the Netherlands to the middle of the Slovenian court closed the set 25-16.
Slovenia came back in the third set, with Urnaut spiking and blocking more effectively. Netherlands responded with spikes by van Marum, Elvira Stenissen and Westerhof. They ascended the downhill just to overcome Slovenia 25-24.
Stenissen sealed the set, tipping the ball for 26-24.
Slovenia closed these Paralympics in fourth position, repeating the performance they had in Athens in 2004.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)