Sri Lanka falls to Japan in three sets in semi-finals – Volleyball News
The first semi-final match for the 5th position at the 2011 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship featured Japan and Sri Lanka as Azadi Hall No. 1 hosted the match on Wednesday, September 28. Japan capitalised with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-20)
victory over the Sri Lankans. Success in the semi-final enabled Japan to reserve a seat in the final match for 5th place. Later in the day, India qualified for the final match after beating their arch rivals Pakistan and joined Japan.
Fukuzawa Tatsua of Japan simply did an amazing job and contributed a match-high 15 points on 21 attack attempts. Yuneyama Yuta followed him up with 12, while Takaaki added 9 points. Surath S.A.J. of Sri Lanka was the most effective player on his side.
He was the only Sri Lankan player who went into double digit scores by adding 12 points.
Japan opened the match in its usual fast offense to outwit their opponents and produced commanding shots, which put pressure on the Sri Lankan defenders. Sri Lanka, however, paid more attention to the movement of ball and got better by digging hard
hits. Gradually, Sri Lanka managed to stabilise its position but Japan proved to be a much stronger opponent. The consistent barrage of attacks allowed Japan to win the first set, 25-17. Tatsuya and Takaaki received huge applause from the audience
for their net action.
The game entered the second set, while Sri Lanka came up with a new game strategy. They tried to down the Japanese side with back row attacks and also used some tricky passes. Nevertheless, Japan’s Yoshihiko Matsumoto responded to Sri Lanka with convincing
shots. He made good use of his hands and his mind, and directed off his shots in the corners. Moreover, some of his short-length spikes promptly hit the ground, while Sri Lankan players had to no chance of blocking them. Sri Lankan setter, Daisuke Usami, put
up good effort for his team and tried to bring his team out of trouble. Meanwhile, Japan achieved the set points and sealed second set win at 25-18.
Yusuke Ishijima joined in on Japan's scoring expedition in the third set. He made a mark on the Sri Lankan blocking with a flurry of unstoppable spikes. Sri Lanka somehow recovered from this strong Japanese offensive challenge and went up 10-9. Long
rallies were exchanged and both sides tried to take the lead. The set inched its way to the end and Sri Lankan attack experienced some slip ups in the closing phase, which enabled Japan to regain control of the set. Eventually, they claimed victory by winning
third set with 25-20 on board.
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