Hanoi, Vietnam, July 17, 2019 – China continued their remarkable unbeaten streak in the 3rd Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship at Gia Lam Gymnasium as the 2015 champions brushed off determined New Zealand in straight sets 25-15 25-22 25-10 in their top eight playoff match in Pool E on Wednesday.
Wu Han chipped in with 17 points from 14 attacks, 2 blocks and 1 ace for China, assisted by Sun Jie with 15 points including 12 kills. Tamara Otene led New Zealand with 10 points.
Pool C winners China, fielding a formidable lineup spearheaded by Sun Jie, Wu Han and the 194cm-tall Gao Yi, while Tamara Otene and Tasmyn Fayhey were the backbones of New Zealand, which finished second in Pool A after conclusion of the pool round-robin preliminaries on Monday.
In the opening set, great serves from Gao Yi and the excellent offensive ability of Sun and Wu put China in a commanding 10-4 lead. Nicky Pio, coupled with Jenna Thorne, were blocking everything at the net, while Tasmyn’s attacks were effective in some critical moment to help the Kiwis get crucial points for the team to trail 7-14. However, China proved a cut above the rivals, with Sun producing powerful mid-court attacks and Gao teamed up with Song Liqi for solid blocking. China took the first set without much effort 25-15.
Going down one set, New Zealand improved their blocking and serving to see points continue to go back and forth and the Kiwis showed tremendous courage to foil the rivals’ attempts to push China to the limit with their gutsy display for a two-point clear at a 16-14 lead. To the spectators’ surprise, leads start to change hands for several times. As China was taking a narrow 22-20 lead, Zhang Qian put her team back on track with fast spikes and Wu assisted with sharp cross-court attacks to end the rivals’ challenge in the hard-fought second set 25-22.
The third set turned out to be a one-way traffic as China waltzed into a commanding 23-10 lead and never looked back from then on to win the set 25-10 and match.
China team captain Yang Yi said, “We played with a bad performance today. I think it was just because we did not prepare well for a difficult test. In the second set, we made a lot of mistakes because we lost our concentration. We next play hosts Vietnam and we have to make our best preparation. We have to focus more on the match because playing against the hosts is more difficult, but we will try our best.”
Asked how long her team had trained in preparation for the Championship, the 22-year-old Yang Yi, who is playing with Tianjin Club at home, said, “Actually, Chinese players came from different clubs and we trained together for three and a half weeks before coming here to compete in the Asian U23 Championship.”
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