Australia defeats China by 3-1 in 2011 China International Men’s Volleyball Challenger
The 2011 China International Men’s Volleyball Challenger is taking place in Zhenjiang City, China. Sunday, July 17, saw the second leg of the tournament being played between some of the most competitive teams of the world including Australia, China, Iran and Kazakhstan. Australia was up against China while Iran and Kazakhstan contested against each other. The match between the host team and Australia went on till four long and grueling sets but ended in disappointment for the majority of the fans as China lost to its rival by 1-3.
The win came as redemption for the Australians as they had suffered a three set straight defeat at the hands of the Chinese in the first leg of the tournament.
Despite the fact that the Chinese were playing on home ground, they had some trouble getting into form in the first set of the game which shifted the momentum towards the Australians and eventually led to a win. Likewise, the second set of the game did not see the Chinese effort bear any fruit as the Australians were stronger and proved it by winning the set.
With the loss of the first two sets of the game, the Chinese felt the pressure of making a win or risk being swept away by their competitors. The increased effort of the Chinese brought them a much needed third set. However, this was the only moment of glory for the Chinese as the Australians secured the match by winning the fourth set, with the final set scores as follows: 25-19, 25-21, 17-25 and 25-17.
The start of the first set of the game saw the Australians in a leading position at 6-2. The Australians were able to maintain superiority with the help of their blocking tactics that limited the scoring of their Chinese counter parts. After the two teams came back from a timeout, the Chinese were able to rally together and bring the score up to 12-12. Unfortunately for the Chinese, they could not keep up the good work for long and fell behind the Australians. As a result, the Australians were able to win the opening set of the game at 25-19.
Having learnt their lesson in the previous set, the Chinese had their errors under control in the second set of the game. Both the teams were neck to neck until the later stages of the set that saw the Australians come forward and take it at 25-21 as the Chinese fell back to committing errors.
The Chinese made a quick show of the third set by securing it at 25-17 but Australia took the lead at the start of the fourth at 8-5 and never looked back till they had sealed the deal on the game at 25-17.
The winner of the other match was Iran which defeated Kazakhstan by 3-2.
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