Jiangmen, China, July 6, 2024 – Japan lived up to their billing, as the defending champions stopped the Korea’s remarkable unbeaten run with dramatic 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) win against the determined opponents to top Pool F in the last 8 stage of the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium here on Saturday.
Outside hitter Miku Akimoto scored a match-high 33 points from 26 kills, 5 blocks and 2 aces for Japan, while fellow outside hitters Anna Uemura and Sae Omori kept good company to contribute 17 and 15 points respectively. Middle blocker Lee Jiyun chipped in 17 points including 14 attacks from 35 attempts on the Korea’s loss.
Japan and Korea remained unbeaten ahead of their confrontation in this match, but it seemed Japan came up in full force, fielding a strong lineup led by the 168cm-tall Anna Uemura, who played in the gold-winning Japan team at the previous edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan two years ago and landed the Best Outside Hitter and MVP awards to her name. The team were also strong in their offensive system, orchestrated by the 185cm-tall Miku Akimoto and powerful Sae Omori. Korea also had formidable players in middle blocker and skipper Kim Sebeen, outside hitters Lee Jua and Shin Eunji.
Uemura led the Japan’s offense with her powerful attacks and terrific jump serves which helped the team take an initial 9-7 lead before they broke away with four straight points, thanks to Omori’s spectacular spikes at the net. After that, Japan entirely dominated the game. Korea upped their tempo, but could not cope well with the Japan’s incredible speed and power and excellent combination attacks. Akimoto fired an off-speed kill to bring Japan to set point 24-17, but Lee Jiyun saved the day for Korea with her fast spike. However, Korea’s fightback was short-lived when Akimoto came from behind to attack devastatingly for the first set win 25-18.
The second set was more competitive as both sides did their best with efforts of initially gaining control. Japan’s consistency and spectacular display made the difference when they narrowly led 14-13 and extended it to 21-18, making the most of their powerful attacks from Uemura, Omori and Akimoto. Korea bounced back heavily, with the 188cm Lee Jiyun unleashing dazzling front-row attacks to help the team catch up at 22-22 and went on for comeback 25-23 win in the set.
Conceding one set, Japan pulled their game together, with Uemura, Omori and Akimoto playing key roles in their offense. Leading 15-11, Japan widened the gap to 20-15, mixing their exceptional attacks from Uemura and Omori and efficient blocks by Akimoto and Ito Ichiyo. Akimoto delivered the set point to Japan with her deadly cross-court attack, but Lee Jua saved one for Korea after pulsating long rally. Uemura closed out the set for Japan with her off-the-block kill. Japan clinched the set 25-17.
In the fourth set, Japan remained on their solid performance, but Korea battled back hard, hoping to make amends for the third-set loss and a successful comeback in this set. They caught the tough rivals at 11-11 and again 19-19, but Japan stayed focused and went on their attacks to win the thrilling set 25-20 and match.
Win or loss, both sides have already secured their berths in the semifinals, but following this great win, Japan emerged as the Pool F winners and in the semifinals, they will take on the losers in the later match between China and Thailand, which will decide the Pool E winners.
“From the very first set, it was a very tough match for us. That means it’s not easy game for us. However, after a 1-1 tie, we recovered and switched our mindset to winning the next set. Against Korea, it’s a tough match for us and so, beating them 3-1 is something we had expected from the beginning. After this, it’s likely that we may take on Thailand in the semifinals. Any game will come and for us, we remain stick to our initial target – do our best. For our win today, the key to our success is our libero Inoue Rinka. She played pretty well not only in dig, but also receive and ball passing,” Japan head coach Hiroyuki Yamaguchi commented after the match.
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