Nagoya, Japan, October 7, 2018 - Sarina Koga scored a match-high 23 points as Japan held off the Dominican Republic 3-2 (25-17, 28-26, 22-25, 25-27, 15-11) in a five-set thriller in the second round of the FIVB Women's World Championship on Sunday night, but the Japan coach was not happy with her team's service game.
Japan coach Kumi Nakada: We competed but won in the end. We should have won in straight sets. The key was that our service did not disrupt our opponents. (Ai) Kurogo's concentration was not enough. Our serve was weak after the first set.
Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek: I'm a little sad for the loss. We prepared hard for the match. We really wanted to win. We found our rhythm from the second set. We were able to compete with Japan which is good, but the result was disappointing.
Japan player Risa Shinnabe: I'm happy we won. We allowed our opponents to get the rhythm and keep it. Now we will focus on tomorrow's match.
Japan player Sarina Koga: I'm relieved we won. Personally I was too focused on scoring. I need to look at blocks at more.
Japan player Mai Okumura: The first set was good. We made many mistakes in the second through fourth sets. We were aggressive with our serve in the fifth set and found the rhythm to beat them.
Dominican captain Bethania De La Cruz: It was a tough match. It is not easy to play Japan. They have a good defense. We were able to fight until the end though and will prepare for tomorrow.