China overcomes USA in final match 2012 Moscow Grand Slam Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament
The cracking action of women’s beach volleyball at the Moscow Grand Slam came to an end on Monday, while China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang emerged as the top team of the tournament.
They defeated archrival American pairing of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the final showdown of the tournament. The crucial match continued for 34 minutes and ended with the final score of 2-0 (21-14, 21-14). Chinese pair claimed their overall 12th FIVB
gold medal and their third in the running season.
The match was opened on a high note and both teams rallied hard to earn better status. Xue and Zhang played consistently from the very start of the match. They developed a good chemistry between them and perfectly complimented each other. Better digging
and diving coupled with strong offence enabled them to build a lead in the first set. May-Treanor and Walsh also displayed good action on the net and showcased their amazing tactics but could not quite get the form to beat the rivals. Chinese pair took away
the opening stanza with fair margin of seven points at 21-14.
The success in opening set allowed Xue and Zhang to attain more confidence in the game. They followed the same strategy and continued with success. The crowd at Moscow Victory Park saw a spectacular show of beach volleyball by the Chinese pair. American
tandem, on the other hand, seemed to have lost focus on the ball, which created a lot of trouble for them. Xue-Zhang jumped to an early lead of 10-4 and further widened the gap of points at 13-10. The American duo ended with identical score of 14, while the
Chinese claimed match points.
It was the first appearance of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the final match of a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event in 2012 season. They had great expectations but it turned out to be a failing effort for them as the team could not achieved desired results.
Walsh regretted the loss of final match but appreciated the hard work of opposite duo. She said, “But they earned it. We did not attack them enough. I know we can play a lot better and that on the other hand makes me happy.”
Zhang shared her views after the match. She stated, “We matured a lot this winter. Last year we got carried away whenever it came down to it, we did not have peace inside. This is better now. And we trained a lot on being more aggressive in attacking.”
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