Thailand defeated Southeast Asian rivals Vietnam 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-17) on Thursday for their second win of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Japan 2018 Asian qualifiers in Nakhon Pathom.
Playing in front of another sold-out crowd at Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium, Thailand proved too strong for Vietnam, who at times showed their resilience and tenacity before going down in 68 minutes.
The victory cemented the home team's position at the top of Pool B, with South Korea, who had a rest day, staying in second place.
Thailand beat Iran 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-13) in the first pool match on Wednesday.
A win against North Korea on Saturday will guarantee Thailand a place at the world championship next year.
The teams compete in a round-robin format with the winners and runners-up of the two pools advancing to the final 24-nation tournament to be held in Japan from Sept 29-Oct 20 next year.
"We played at a very high standard today. We're pretty ruthless in our attack and that made everything easier," said setter Nootsara Tomkom.
"We expected a much tougher match today because Vietnam did very well at the Asian Championship last month. But today they didn't use their two main middle blockers so that made things a lot easier for us."
Thailand have two remaining games against North Korea tomorrow and South Korea on Sunday.
"If we beat North Korea on Saturday we will qualify for the final round in Japan. The games against North and South Korea are our most important matches this weekend," added Nootsara.
"We will need the fans to come out and give us support the same way they did these first two days."
In the other Pool B game, North Korea picked up their first win after beating Iran 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-18).
The victory sent North Korea to third spot in the pool, behind South Korea, who beat them 3-0 on Wednesday.
North Korea last participated in an AVC-sanctioned tournament at the 2011 Asian Senior Women's Championship in Taiwan, where they finished fourth.
Today, Vietnam play North Korea at 3.30pm, while South Korea meet Iran at 6.15pm. Both matches will be shown live on Channel 3SD (28).
In Pool A action at Almaty's Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, Australia defeated Fiji 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-10) for their first win of the final round of Asian qualifiers.
Hosts Kazakhstan were scheduled to meet China, who routed Fiji 3-0 on Wednesday, late last night.
Apart from five Asian teams, next year's world championship will also feature eight European nations -- Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Azerbaijan, Germany, Netherlands, Bulgaria. South American champions Brazil and winners of a regional qualifying round, reigning champions United States and six other teams from North America and African champions and runners-up will join them at the finals.