China wins again to extend winning streak – Women’s Junior World Championship 2011
Women’s National Junior Volleyball Team of China defeated Slovakia by 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, and 25-21) in the first match of the second round of the Junior World Championship on Tuesday, July 26.
The packed Gran Chimo Arena in Trujillo, Peru hosted the match of Pool F teams. Team China added a fourth win to their tally. They captured all three matches of the first round and topped Pool D standings, last week. They continued with success in the second
round and made a good opening by beating Slovakia.
Zhou Yang played a vital role in the China’s victory as she added valuable 13 points. As far as the individual effort was concerned, Team Slovakia had two players who clipped 18 points each. Tatiana Crkonova and Simona Kosova staged a great fight but somehow
couldn’t achieve the desired results.
The opening phase of the match was full of hot action on the centre court. Slovakian hitters came from different angles and tried to poke the ball in gaps. They attempted solid spikes and hit the ball hard. However, Peixin Liu of China offered good blocking
to the fast-moving shots. Meanwhile, Yanchi Pi threw the ball in corners and raised her team’s score. As a result, score soared up with close gap and both sides frequently traded leads. First set quickly inched its way to the end but situation still remained
undecided. Finally, Slovakia hit the mark and secured first set with 2-point margin. They posted 25-23 and pushed China behind.
Slovakia had the competitive edge after winning the opening set. They played with confidence in the second set and built an early lead over Chinese counterparts. Tatiana Crkonova of Slovakia was all over the place. She clipped nine points in second set of
the match. Slovakia led the score for better part of second set but finally Chinese side rose up. With good combination of attack and defence, they managed to surpass resilient rivals. China levelled the game score at the end of second set. They won set by
posting 25-20.
Third set was another cracking fight between two teams. Slovakia called in the better substitutions and threw everything in attack, in order to break the tie. Anyhow, Chinese team denied their efforts and showed them responded in same tone. Chinese squad
got a perfect kills near the end of second set, which caused severe damage for Slovakia. China won the set and extended its lead to 2-1.
Fourth set progressed in the same fashion as both evenly-matched teams continued trading leads. Slovakia picked up an eight point lead, behind Nikola Radosova, who had six points in the set. However, China came roaring back, and hit the equalizer at 20-all,
led by Zhou Yang had four points in the set. China pulled off success in fourth set with 4-point lead and announced match victory.
Quotes and Comments
It was the most difficult match since the beginning of the 2011 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship said the mentor of the Chinese Team, Xu Jiande, while making remarks after the match was over. He further added that his side was prepared but they did
not expect such an intense fight. The team captain, Long Cheng, shared similar thoughts. She stated, “It was a very difficult match; Slovakia’s team is really good, we are lucky for us to have played against such an interesting team.”
Slovakia lost the match but the Head Coach, Mareko Rjko, praised the good work of his players. He said, “I’m proud of my players, I think we should have wined today.” Moreover, he congratulated China for winning the match with good strategy and tactics.
Karin Palgutova, the captain of Slovakian squad also had her say about the match. She stated, “We played a great match, we tried to do our best, but unfortunately we lost”.
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