By Wang Leon
Xi’an, China, September 16, 2021 – Shanghai opened with a straight set win while Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Liaoning prevailed through five-set thrillers respectively on day 1 of China National Games Senior Women’s Volleyball Tournament here at the Aoxiang Gymnasium of Northwest Polytechnical University.
In the eye-catchy match, defending champions Jiangsu pulled off an epic 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 18-25, 19-17) victory over powerhouses Tianjin, 3-consecutive-title-holders in the National Games.
Led by Zhang Changning and Gong Xiangyu, Jiangsu broke the balance since 5-5 tie and gradually widened the gap to 14-7. Despite the opponents’ attempt of counterattacks, Jiangsu managed to seal the first set in 25-19.
Both teams stuck to each other until 8-8 in the second set before Tianjin pulled away to a 25-20 win thanks to their strengthened blocks.
The third set became more like a seesaw battle. Jiangsu once set up a 22-19 lead, however they were again soon chased up by Tianjin. A key spiking error by Tianjin saw Jiangsu off to a close 25-23 victory.
Relying on Yuan Xinyue’s constant blocks and Li Yingying’s powerful attacks, Tianjin pounced back in the fourth set and pushed the match to the tie-breaker following a 25-18 win.
In the decider, Tianjin were so close to the final victory when they held 4 match points in hand, however, Jiangsu never gave up and organised desperate counterattacks. Wu Han stood out with her shining performance at the crucial moment and helped Jiangsu reverse the situation to a narrow 19-17 win.
In the other two five-set matches, Zhejiang staged a sensational comeback 3-2 (20-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 15-7) victory over Guangdong while Liaoning edged out Shandong dramatically in 3-2 (15-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 15-12).
In the opener, Zhuting was kept on bench due to her wrist injury, and her team Henan was defeated by Shanghai in 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-19).
8 participating teams will continue to play the round-robin preliminaries until September 23. Top 4 teams will advance to semifinals, while the rest teams will be ranked according to their placing in the preliminaries.
Competition Schedule
Thursday, September 16
Henan v Shanghai 0-3 (19-25, 21-25, 19-25)
Guangdong v Zhejiang 2-3 (25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 16-25, 7-15)
Jiangsu v Tianjin 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 18-25, 19-17)
Liaoning v Shandong 3-2 (15-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 15-12).
Friday, September 17
13:00 Zhejiang v Jiangsu
15:00 Shanghai v Shandong
17:00 Tianjin v Liaoning
19:00 Henan v Guangdong
Saturday, September 18
13:00 Shandong v Tianjin
15:00 Liaoning v Zhejiang
17:00 Guangdong v Shanghai
19:00 Jiangsu v Henan
Sunday, September 19
13:00 Zhejiang v Shandong
15:00 Henan v Liaoning
17:00 Guangdong v Jiangsu
19:00 Shanghai v Tianjin
Monday, September 20
Rest Day
Tuesday, September 21
13:00 Liaoning v Guangdong
15:00 Jiangsu v Shanghai
17:00 Shandong v Henan
19:00 Tianjin v Zhejiang
Wednesday, September 22
13:00 Jiangsu v Liaoning
15:00 Guangdong v Shandong
17:00 Henan v Tianjin
19:00 Shanghai v Zhejiang
Thursday, September 23
13:00 Tianjin v Guangdong
15:00 Zhejiang v Henan
17:00 Liaoning v Shanghai
19:00 Shandong v Jiangsu
Friday, September 24
Rest Day
Saturday, September 25
Semifinals 1
Semifinals 2
Sunday, September 26
Bronze medal match
Gold medal match
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