The Asian teams shut out the Netherlands and Belgium on the last competition day of pool play
China’s Yuan in attack against Belgium
China mastered a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 27-25) shutout of Belgium in their last Pool E match at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 in Rotterdam on Sunday. With the win, the Chinese booked the final quarterfinal spot available from the pool, regardless of the remaining results later in the day.
With Japan also defeating the Netherlands in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-21), Pool E winners Italy will take on fourth-placed China and pool runners-up Brazil will lock horns with third-placed Japan for the spots in one of the semifinals.
Puerto Rico and Argentina will meet in the last game of pool play later on Sunday, at 18:30 local time (16:30 GMT). The two teams occupy the last two spots in the Pool E standings, on a 2-6 win-loss record each, without a shot at advancing in the tournament.
· Watch all FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.
Belgian outside hitter Britt Herbots was the best scorer of her team’s match against China. She put away 21 points, including an ace and a block. Her Chinese counterparts Li Yingying and Wang Yunlu were the top point contributors on the winning side, with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Middle Wang Yuanyuan led the blockers with three stuffs towards a total tally of 11 points, while her cross-court teammate and captain Yuan Xinyue was the master of the serve with four aces towards her total of 10 points.
With Wang and Li spearheading the offence, China faced few issues in winning the first set by an emphatic 25-18. Yuan fired all four of her aces in the second set and that proved crucial on the way to another 25-18 close. The third set was the most competitive in the match. Belgium recovered from a four-point deficit they had at 19-15 to catch up at 20-20 and hold up long enough to push the set into overtime. Finally, Wang’s successful attack brought in another Chinese match point at 26-25 and then she converted it herself with a serving ace.
“I am so happy we won this match and made it to the quarterfinals, and I would like to thank all the players for the effort,” said Chinese opposite Gong Xiangyu after the game. “We will try to prepare well for the next match and forget about the past results.”
Japan’s Ishikawa on the serve against the Netherlands
The Netherlands scored twice as many blocking point (8) as their opponents from Japan (4). However, the Asian team outplayed the hosts on all other counts. Three players shared the top scorer honours with 15 points each. Japanese outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa included two aces in her tally and her cross-court teammate Arisa Inoue chipped in with a kill block, while Dutch outside and captain Anne Buijs scored two stuffs on the way to her 15 points in the match.
The first set was competitive and the lead swung from three points the Netherlands’ way (9-6) to four points Japan’s way (17-13, 21-17) and then it was 22-22 before Japan went on a 3-1 run with Inoue hammering the winner. The second set was even tighter. The only time the gap exceeded two points one way or another was at 9-6 in favour of Japan. Opposite Kotona Hayashi scored seven points in the set, including the 25-23 set winner to double Japan’s lead. After 4-4 in the third set, it was all about Japan. The home team stepped up their blocking efforts, but it was not enough to stop the Japanese attacks. Ishikawa led her team in this set and crowned her performance with a beautiful pipe for the 25-21 match winning point.
“There were so many people cheering the Dutch team on, but we just stayed focused on every single point,” Japanese libero Satomi Fukudome commented after the match.
The quarterfinals will take place on Tuesday. Italy vs China and Brazil vs Japan will be played in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn, while the United States vs Türkiye and Serbia vs Poland will be hosted by the Polish city of Gliwice.
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