Angie Bland and Els Vandesteene celebrate Belgium's opening victory.
Bari, Italy, September 24, 2014 – Belgium beat Cuba 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-16) in the third match of pool D on the first day of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship at PalaFlorio in Bari. Key points:• Cuba’s Melissa Vargas was the top scorer in the match with 15 points. Belgium were led by Laura Heyrman with 14.• Belgium had 7 service points only in second set. Cuba only one in the match.• Melissa Vargas, opposite spiker of Cuba, is the youngest of the World Championship 2014• Belgium had 10 block points to Cuba's 3.• Belgium and Cuba played in 107 minutes, short time of Pool D's matches
Belgium took the first set by a large margin playing good volleyball. After Cuba scored the first point of the match, China picked up the next three. Yellow Tigers stopped attacks of Cuba and led 8-4 at the first break. Vandesteene and Heyrman forced coach Juan Carlos Gala to call a timeout (5-10). Another Caribbean error gave Belgium six point lead at the second TTO (16-10). Van Hecke put Brazil 1-0 ahead.
The third set started in similar fashion to the second. An ace of Leys (1-3) and an attack of Van Hecke forced Cuba into timeout (6-12). Too easy to Heyrman to conclude (25-12) and Van Hecke scored six points in the set.
The third set started with far more intensity than the first two. Belgium had an early advantage and enlarged it to 8-4 at the first technical timeout. The rest of the set was dominated by Belgium as they powered to the win.