Japan and Cuba make it to the final of Montreux Volley Masters – Volleyball news
The 2011 Montreux Volley Master is progressing to its final stage in the Swiss town of Montreux. A total of eight world class women’s teams entered the competition, in order to prepare themselves for the upcoming mega international event of the 2011 FIVB
Grand Prix. The first preliminary round of the tournament reached its end on Friday, June 10 and the following four teams settled in the semi-finals: Japan, Cuba, China and United States.
The first semi-final match of the Montreux Volley Masters brought defending champion China and the Japanese team to the court. The match was officially opened in the evening at 06:05 pm. The Japanese team demonstrated a brilliant game and outshone the Chinese
squad in three straight sets. Japan qualified for the final of the Montreux Volley Masters for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Later on, Cuba came across the American team in the second semi-final and claimed victory at the loss of one-set. The U.S. team is the silver-medallist from the 2010 Montreux Volley Masters but this time Cuba prevented them to even make it into the finals.
The losers of the semi-finals will play the classification match for 3rd position.
Japan vs. China 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, and 25-23)
The Chinese side was equipped with strong a player-line, while the Japanese team was a mix of experienced and young players. The match was opened with the exchange of jump-serves but opening phase of the game was slow. Gradually, it picked up pace as Yukiko
Ibata of Japan started the heavy strike of volleys. She hit the ball from different angles and added quick points in Japan’s score. In response, China’s reception was erratic. They dropped a few easy shots and created perfect opportunity for Japanese squad
to secure opening set of the game.
The success in first set proved to be a great advantage for Japanese team. It boosted their morale and they came up with more convincing game in the second set. On contrary, China seemed to have lost the real touch to their game. Japan had firm ambition
to dominate the rival side and they stick to their plan. Japanese players avoided common mistakes and covered the length of second set 48th minute of the game. China suffered the loss of another set by receiving 19-25.
Third set was a heated competition as the Chinese side, infuriated by the failure in the previous two sets, attacked in full force but Japan responded in the same tone. Kotoki Zayasu, the defence expert of Chinese side, did an amazing job and saved some
crucial points. China got better but the confidence of the two sets in hand allowed Japan to stay ahead in the game. Chinese team came a long way fighting for better status but Japan ousted them with a 25-23 victory in third set.
Cuba vs. United States 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 17-25, and 26-24)
Second semi-final between Cuba and USA created a lot of buzz. Caribbean side was led by outside hitter Kenia Carcaces, who created a lot of headaches for the American team from beginning to end. The first set saw an amazing performance by the Cuban hitter.
She never missed a chance to hit the scores and enabled her team to capture the first set. In the meanwhile, the Cuban skipper, Yusidey Silie, contributed to her team’s score. The duo worked out great progress and extended their lead to 2-0 at the end of second
set.
The U.S. team played well in the third set and managed to hold off Cuban team for 25-17 win. Nevertheless, the Cuban side didn’t allow them to go with the flow and thrashed them for a fourth-set win to claim the match.
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