Tianjin, China, May 5, 2019 – Hosts Bohai Bank Tianjin claimed their fifth Asian Women’s Club title as they pulled off a stunning 3-1(25-18, 35-33, 16-25, 25-19) victory over reigning champions Supreme Chonburi from Thailand in the action-packed final showdown of the 2019 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Wuqing Sports Center on Sunday.
Left-handed Li Yingying had another prolific night with an incredible match-high 40 points for Bohai Bank Tianjin from 34 spikes, 2 blocks and 4 aces. Her team-mates Liu Xiaotong and Wang Yuanyuan chipped in 16 and 15 points respectively. Pleumjit Thinkaow contributed a team-high 23 points for the Thai side.
Tianjin and Supreme traded points at the beginning of the first set before Li Yingying and Liu Xiaotong opened up the gap with super powerful attacks in a row, seizing the Tianjin’s lead with a four-point clear at 14-10. Supreme fought back as Pleumjit and Indonesian Aprilia Santini Manganang kept good company in attacks to narrow it to 13-14. Tianjin held off their rivals again with another round of dominant attacks before finishing the first set 25-18.
The second set saw the Thais lead almost all the way from 8-5 to 16-14 at the technical timeouts. However, they failed to seize the opportunities to finish the set, while Tianjin saved three set points in a row to propel the set into a sudden death and breathtaking stage. The pulsating affair was eventually edged by Tianjin 35-33 following a spike by Wang Yuanyuan.
Conceding two sets, Supreme gave it all out and managed to restrain their opponents in the third set. They scored 6 points in a row to take an early 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout. From then on, they began to stamp their superiority in the set and concluded it smoothly 25-16.
The nail-biting fourth set saw both sides take turns leading before Tianjin exerted their “nuclear weapon” of monster blocks to tally 6 points in a row to wrap up the set and match at 25-19.
“We surely encountered a lot of difficulties during the contest. It was not beyond my anticipation. Our opponents were very experienced and did well in serves, which caused us some troubles in setting. We strengthened our defence and made good use of the height advantage in the latter period. The adjustment worked out and we held on to win the match,” said Chen Youquan, Bohai Bank Tianjin’s head coach after the match.
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