Russia extends winning streak to 2-0 on second day of FIVB World Cup - Volleyball
Following their success in the FIVB World Cup Opener, the Russian team carried the momentum into the second match and earned a straight set win over China. The city of Kagoshima in Japan hosted the match on Monday, November 21, where Russia posted 3-0 (25-18,
25-20, 25-18) and improved to 2-0 in the tournament. Maxim Mikhaylov topped all the scorers with his match-high 17 points and played an instrumental role in Russia victory. China’s Chen Peng helped 13 points in the failing effort and emerged as the second
best scorer of the match.
Match overview
With the confidence of the previous win, Russia opened the match against China with powerful serves. Mikhaylov supplied plenty of power to the ball and found the perfect gaps in Chinese half. Russia used a strong offense and quickly moved to 11-7 lead. China’s
libero Ren Qi offered some resistance to Russian attackers but on the whole China became irresistible. Roman Yakovlev helped Russia in taking away the first set from China at 25-18.
China tried to cover the deficit in th esecond set and used Zhang Chen, who offered incredible blocking to Russian spikes. However, Nikolay Apalikov of Russia broke the rhythm of Chinese players and tallied a 3-0 run. Meanwhile, Dmitriy Muserskiy further
stretched the gap of points. China trailed behind and failed to return in the game. Second set also slipped from their hands, while Russia enjoyed 2-0 lead in the match.
Alexander Butko of Russia scored solid points in third set and enabled his team to stay ahead in the game. China could only score 18 points in third set and lost the match in consecutive sets. Russia has now earned six points with two victories, while China
is still staying without any prize in the tournament.
Post-match
Russian mentor, Vladimir Alekno, disclosed the game plan after the match. He stated: “We had two things that we wanted to do today: one was to earn three points, the other was to use some players who hadn’t played yet. We managed to do the first by getting
the three points, but the game was a little short to use all players who haven’t played yet.”
His Chinese counterpart, Zhou Jianan commented: This match was very difficult for us, because Russia is such a strong team. I think today I’m satisfied with how we did, in a difficult situation. We tried our best and fought well, and I hope we can improve
moving forward.
The captain of Russia, Sergey Tetyukhin seemed delighted after finishing the match in straight sets. He said that every point in the competition is important. On the other hand, Chinese skipper Cui Jianjun acknowledged the fact that Russia is a strong team
and it deserved to win the match. He concluded by saying that they learnt a lot of things in the match.
Tags: