Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 18, 2016 - Venezuela once again proved to be a top contestant in the group as they clinched the second victory in a row, finishing off Qatar with 3-1 (25-27, 25-15, 27-25, 25-23).
Venezuela proved to be in top shape already on the first day of the event by blowing Tunisia off the court without dropping a set, while Qatari on the other hand struggled in their first World League match against home crowd favourite Slovenia by chipping a set. As Qatari are debuting in the World League, this was the team's first ever encounter. Captian Kervin Pinerua led his team yet again claiming a full set for his team after scoring 25 points.
Both teams started the match a bit nervous as the score remained tied up. Nevertheless, it was Venezuela that raced off to a four point lead at 11-7, but the advantage soon vanished as Qatar equalized at 17-all. Middle-Easterners took the initiative towards the end of the set and secured two set points at 24-22 before closing the set in the jumpy finish at 27-25.
Upset after dropping the first set Venezuelans pulled away to six points lead at the beginning of the second set at 11-5 and extended the gap to 10 points at 21-11. With the same difference they took the second set at 25-15 and leveled the result to 1-1. With six and four points respectively the top scores of the set were Venezuelans Barreto Pena (all points scored in attacks) and Kervin Pinerua who with 11 points was also the match top scorer at that time.
The start of the third set was a head-to-head race as neither of the teams was able to claim a comfortable lead. The result was levelled until the very end of the set. It was again Pinerua who secured the first set point for Venezuela at 24-23 but South Americans could only clinch the second set at 27-25 when an indefensible spike by Barreto Pena left the Qatari speechless.
In the fourth Qatar opened up with a six point lead at 10-4 and was looking strong to bring the match into the tie-break. But the South Americans regained their strength and equalized at 14-all. Afterwards it was a back and forth game. Qatari edged by three points, but Venezuelans were once again more focused at the end and used the first set point to bring the match to an end at 25-23. Top scorers were spiker Kervin Pinerua (VEN) with 25 points while middle blocker John Chigbo scored 17 points for the team from Middle East.