Tianjin, China, May 21, 2015 – The 18th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship finished its second match day with 6 one-sided matches. Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and China all swept their opponents in straight sets except Korea, who carelessly missed one set to Australia.
Thailand b Hong Kong 3-0
Thailand proved themselves too strong for Hong Kong as they smashed opponent’s hope from the very beginning to the end of the match (25-7, 25-6, 25-10).
In the beginning, Thailand led the score to 8-0 through powerful attacks and dogged blocks. Even though Hong Kong scored several points from the opponent’s errors, Thailand soon finished the set 25-7.
Thailand brought the second set to the technical time-outs 8-2 and then 16-2. Malika Kanthong was on fire in this set as she could always score whatever in spikes, blocks and serves. With a stunning attack by Wilavan Apinyapong, Thailand finished the set 25-6.
Hong Kong struggled to catch up the pace and tenaciously saved the match point twice through successful double blocks, but still lost to their opponent in 10-25.
Hattaya Bamrungsuk became the best scorer of Thailand by bagging 16 points including 10 from spiking, 2 from blocking and 4 from serving. The best scorer of Hong Kong belonged to Ip Hoi Lun Helen with only 5 points.
Chinese Taipei b Sri Lanka 3-0
Recovered quickly from the loss to Thailand on the first day, Chinese Taipei performed a straight set win (25-10, 25-23, 25-10) against Sri Lanka at the Tianjin Polytechnic University Gym.
Chinese Taipei dominated the match from the beginning of the first set. Chang Chen-Yin‘s destructive jumping-serves helped the lead to 6-1. Sri Lanka had to call their first time-out, but it just delayed the Chinese Taipei to score. The score gap was constantly widened to 21-7 since 8-1 at the first technical time-out before Chinese Taipei took the set in 25-10 smoothly.
Sri Lanka regained the state and posed threats to Chinese Taipei in the second set. With combination of spikes and drop shots, they were able to stick to Chinese Taipei from 5-5 to 15-15 tie, and even once reverse to a 22-21 lead. Lin Ming-Hui, head coach of Chinese Taipei called time-out to make adjustment in time and helped the team take the second set in 25-23 narrowly.
Concentrated from beginning of the third set, Chinese Taipei gave no more chance to Sri Lanka with dogged blocks and threatening serves. Sri Lanka could not organize efficient attacks as they committed disordered passes and sets as well as continuous errors. The score gap widened from 8-3 to 16-7 at two technical time-outs and marked 15 when Chinese Taipei finished the set in 25-10.
Chen Wan-Ting scored 11 points to be the best scorer of Chinese Taipei, while the opponent’s only 4.
Vietnam b Mongolia 3-0
The score kept increasing alternatively, as Vietnam took the lead to 8-6 at the first technical time-out. Mongolia tied the score to 10-10 based on powerful servings and attacks. Vietnam strengthened blocking afterwards and led the set to the second technical time-out in 16-12. Although Mongolia organized several effective attacks, their poor receiving and serves killed themselves and spelled an end to the first set at 25-18 in favor of Vietnam.
Mongolia renewed themselves in the second set. Bayaraa Enkhzaya consecutively gained 2 points through powerful serves, leading the score to 10-6 after the first technical time-out, pushing Vietnam to call a time-out immediately. When back on court, Vietnam started to combine spikes and tips, chasing to a 13-13 tie and then reversing to a 16-13 lead. Apparently Mongolia was not accustomed to the adjustment made by their opponent as Vietnam continued the momentum to 25-14.
In the third set, Vietnam took the lead and widened the score gap to 8-3 and 16-6 at the first and the second technical time-outs respectively. Mongolia seemingly lost their morale and committed continuous errors while Vietnam performed robust quick attacks. With a beautiful back-row attack, Vietnam sealed the third set in 25-13 and harvested their second win at the Championship.
Ha Ngoc Diem of Vietnam scored 12 from 39 attempts, becoming the best scorer.
Kazakhstan b Philippines 3-0
The late arriver Philippines, who had their preliminary inquiry after the General Technical meeting tasted their second loss facing taller and earlier-arrived Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan paid high attention to this Championship as they already had a 10-day camp training in China before the start of Championship. Though losing their first match against the strong Koreans, they focused on winning the other two opponents in Pool D.
Starting the first set 5-0, Kazakhstan seldom met any challenge before ending up the set 25-11. And the second set became even easier for Kazakhs as they stormed to an 8-null start and overwhelmed the Philippines in 25-10.
The Philippines eventually posed some threats to their opponent in the third set. They chased Kazakhstan tightly and even reversed the score to 10-8, forcing the head coach of Kazakhstan to call a time-out. After the short adjustment, Kazakhstan recovered their concentration and took back the leading position, leaving no more chance to the Philippines. The set was finally ended in 25-13.
The best scorer of the match belonged to Sana Anarkulova, who wrapped 10 points in an efficient way from 23 attempts, while the best scorer of Philippines, Pablo Myla only pocked 5 points from 28 attempts.
Korea b Australia 3-1
After beating the Philippines in their opening encounter, the Volleyroos took a set off the highly rated Koreans, who won the match 3-1 (25-11, 24-26, 25-11, 25-14).
“We came out of it, pretty happy, “ captain Shae Sloane said. “To get that second set off Korea, we haven’t done that sort of thing in a while. And to get to 24-all, and then come away with the set showed a lot of fight from us. The other three sets we played okay, but they really stepped it up and we just found it hard to go with them.”
Kim Yeonkoung, captain of Korea bagged 19 points, who deserved to be the best scorer in no doubt. But the Korean team also made up to 20 errors, resulting their loss in the second set.
China b India 3-0
Due to the withdrawal of Fiji, the host China made their debut at the Championship until the second match day against India, while the latter was no rival to the host as they lost the match in 0-3 (8-25, 12-25, 12-25) in less than one hour.
Cheered by thousands of local fans, China firmly dominated the whole match even when coach Lang Ping sent the second lineup onto the court.
“I just want all my players to improve through the match, especially those young players. Being a strong team, we cannot always rely on the 6 starting players. ” said Lang Ping, head coach of China at the post-match press conference.
Match result & schedule (Local Time)
Pool round-robin preliminaries
May 21
Tianjin Gym
12:00 Thailand – Hongkong, China 3-0 (25-7, 25-6, 25-10)
14:00 Japan – Turkmenistan (Withdrawal) 3-0 (25-0, 25-0, 25-0)
16:00 Australia – Korea 1-3 (11-25, 26-24, 11-25, 14-25)
19:30 China – India 3-0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-12)
Tianjin Polytechnic University Gym
12:00 Chinese Taipei – Sri Lanka 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-10)
14:00 Vietnam – Mongolia 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-13)
16:00 Kazakhstan – Philippines 3-0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-13)
19:30 Iran – Fiji (Withdrawal) 3-0 (25-0, 25-0, 25-0)
May 22
Tianjin Gym
12:00 Mongolia – Japan
14:00 Turkmenistan (Withdrawal) – Vietnam
16:00 Sri Lanka – Thailand
19:30 China – Iran
Tianjin Polytechnic University Gym
12:00 Hongkong, China – Chinese Taipei
14:00 India – Fiji (Withdrawal)
16:00 Korea – Philippines
19:30 Kazakhstan – Australia