Jiangmen, China, July 6, 2024 – China brought their best players to the court at the Jiangmen Sports Center Gymnasium on Saturday, giving no chance to Thailand to secure a 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-20) victory and emerged triumphant in their last 8 Pool E encounter at the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Volleyball Championship.
China’s main attackers rose to the occasion and thrived in the offensive system orchestrated by setter Zhu Hangting, with outside hitter Guo Xiangling registering 21 points (13 kills, 7 blocks, one ace), opposite Wang Yindi contributing 10 (7 kills, one block and two aces) and middle blocker Chen Houyu adding another 9 (7 kills, 2 blocks). Outside hitter Warisara Seetaloed was in her usual brilliant form and fired as many as 20 points over the three sets of the game, delivering 19 kills and one block to top the match chart of the Thai side.
China, current world champions and silver medallists at the previous edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan two years ago, were strong offensively with the likes of Shan Lingqian and skipper Wang Yindi, both of whom joined the gold medal-winning China team at the last year’s U21 World Championship. China head coach Qi Kuang also added potential players who took part at last year’s U19 World Championship including Li Chenxuan, Chen Houyu to his starting lineup. Thailand sent a formidable squad, many of them joined the team at the last year’s U19 World Championship, where they stunned China 3-2 in the round of last 16.
The first set was closely-contested from the very beginning. China, having height average of 186cm against Thailand’s 174cm, utilized their height advantage to establish the initial lead with two-point clear at 9-7, thanks to spectacular attacks from Guo Xiangling. With Warisara on fire in attack, Thailand trailed closely behind 15-18, leaving the China head coach to ask for timeout to improve his team’s game plan. However, as China regained their momentum and moved ahead 21-16, Thailand solidified their defence and Warisara became a consistent weapon for the team. The 174cm-tall outside hitter overpowered the much taller blockers with her exceptional attacks and helped Thailand score three points on the trot to narrow the margin 19-21.
Looking for the right formula to play Thailand more effectively, China shuffled their lineup. After that, Shan Linqian and Guo Xiangling produced two successive kill blocks to help the team advance 23-19. Thailand fought hard and remained hot on the China’s heels. Warisara attacked devastatingly to hand her team one more point, but Guo Xiangling and Shan Linqian came up with another kill block on Warisara’s second attacking attempt. China took the hard-fought first set 25-23.
Holding one-set advantage, China completely dominated on the court in the second set to master a 25-11 sweep of a one-sided set, with Chen Houyu and setter Zhu Hangting effectively foiling Nakarinporn Budda’s attacking attempt in the final point of the set.
The third set turned out to be a hotly-contested battle as Thailand kept fighting from start to finish. The Thai girls stood a chance to stay in front 11-9, with Warisara displaying her extraordinary performance to overcome the much taller blockers with first-combo attacks connected. However, as China were leveled at 13-13, Guo Xiangling scored three points in succession through her mighty attacks. Thailand did not want to give up easily and traded attacks to trail closely 17-18 and 19-21. Still, the determined Chinese had enough left to hold them off.
Wang Yindi and Shan Linqian solidly blocked Warisara to move China to the set point 24-19. Left-hander Papatchaya Phontham fired a beautiful swing to give Thailand another point at 20-24 before Dong Yuhan hammered a match winner to end the Thai challenge 25-20.
“I think my girls did their best today, but the Chinese had great serves and perfect kill blocks, allowing us tough times to attack them. We next will take on Japan and have to study how they play. One thing we have already learned is that the Japanese have a very good defensive system. So, we have to rely on our good attack. Although neither Japan nor Thailand had the height advantage, we have to stay focused and relax while playing them. Some of my girls always come up with anxiety while competing and that makes things get worse. We have to avoid anxiety and play relaxed,” Thailand head coach Kritideach Arjwichai remarked.
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