China remains unbeaten in the first round of 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship
China entered the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship with 15 other teams of the world. United States, China, Serbia, and Puerto Rico were placed in the same group, which was labelled as Pool C.
Chinese team kick started the action on opening day of the tournament on Friday, August 12 against Serbia. They defeated Serbian team and edged out Puerto Rico in the next match on following day.
Chinese squad contested its spike and block abilities with U.S. team in the last match of preliminary robin round on Sunday, August 14. Baskent Hall in Ankara, Turkey was the match venue, which hosted all the action in the presence of good number volleyball
enthusiasts. The crowd saw China breezing past U.S. in four sets. They posted 3-1 (24-26, 25-15, 25-21, and 25-20) victory over USA and maintained their winning streak of 3 matches in the first round. China climbed up the top position in Pool C, while United
States was pushed to third position. China will now play in the top-8 round but U.S. could only be able to vie for last 8 spots of the Youth World Championship.
China’s Ruoya Xu supported China with match high 20 points. On the other side, American Jordan Burgess registered 15 points for her team and earned the status of top-scorer in U.S. team.
Match overview
China had the confidence of two victories in hand in the previous two days. On contrary, U.S. had suffered the loss of one match. China managed to build some early pressure on American side and scored five consecutive points. Ningya Tang of China showed
the power of her forearms and created much trouble for opponents. As the game progressed, U.S. team also broke the ice and put away the first points at 8-1. Gradually, Team USA struggled to stay in front of competitors. It was not an easy task but the hard
work of American players paid off. They tied the score at 22-all and made a big break through by winning first set (26-24).
The dramatic loss of opening set totally raged up China. They covered their flaws and didn’t repeat any mistakes in second set. They jumped straight to 8-3 lead and continued with success afterwards. Smashing shots by Xu and Ting Zhu enabled China to pull
through second set with score of 25-15.
China strengthened its grip on the match and remained remarkably consistent in the third set. U.S. players came from different angles but couldn’t return in the game. China extended its lead to 2-1 by capturing third set. It was ‘do or die’ situation for
USA in fourth set, while China was fully prepared to put an end to the match in that particular set. They confirmed their ambition by showing sensible play and won fourth set of the game. USA lost two straight sets and also lost the match.
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Chinese mentor Mang Shen stated, “US Team is very strong. It was very difficult match. They caused a lot of challenges and difficulties for us. I always told my players to stay calm. USA is a very respectful team. For the next round, we will play match
by match and concentrate on them individually.” The Captain of China Mallory McCage also called it a difficult match for both teams.
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