FANS THRILLED ON ACTION-PACKED VTV9-BINH DIEN CUP INTERNATIONALWOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
Quang Nam, Vietnam, May 13, 2018 – BIP produced a fantastic 3-1 comeback win over Vietinbank as China’s Jiangsu pulled off an epic victory on Day 2 of the 12th VTV9-Binh Dien Cup International Women’s Volleyball Tournament at the Tamky Gym on Sunday.
A huge home crowd turned up at the competition venue to boost their team’ morale, creating a positive cheering experience and exciting entertainment. However, they left the venue with heads low in disappointment.
BIP, a formidable squad from the United States, fought well against Vietinbank, strengthened by many Vietnam national players including Le Thanh Thuy, Ha Ngoc Diem and Dinh Thi Thuy.
The visitors lost the thrilling first set 21-25, but gradually pulled their game together to capture straight three sets 25-21 25-20 25-21.
Promising Allison Mayfield scored a match-high 23 points including 16 kills from 37 attempts, 4 stuff blocks and 3 ace serves. Dinh Thi Thuy led Vietinbank with 16 points including 11 attacks. Ha Ngoc Diem assisted 14 points including 11 kills.
The day’s second match was more thrilling as China’s Jiangsu and Almaty from Kazakhstan set the gymnasium alight with the top-level competition, excellent teamworks, solid defence and powerful attacks.
The Chinese team, spearheaded by hard-attacking Wu Han and Xu Ruo Ya, took the comfortable first set 25-17, but lost their rhythm in the second set, which they went down 18-25. The third set turned out to be a totally one-sided battle as Jiangsu came back in full strength to win 25-9.
Almaty gathered their courage and their fightback was on the right track as the Kazakh side pushed the Chinese counterparts to the limit with their improved attacks for the hard-fought 28-26 win. However, their delights did not last long as Jiangsu came back mightily to win the tie-breaker 15-9.
Wu Han topscored Jiangsu with 24 points including 21 kills from 40 attempts and Xu Ruo Ya added 15 points including 11 attack hits. Wang Chen Yue assisted 6 kills, 4 solid blocks and 3 ace serves. Regina Danilova led Almaty with 14 points.
Two matches were contested earlier on the opening day on May 12. China’s Fujian played a hard-fought five-set thriller against Thong tin Lianvietpostbank to narrowly edge the Vietnamese rivals 27-29 26-24 23-25 25-21 15-10, while VTV Binh Dien Long An, second to eventual champions Bangkok Glass from Thailand in the previous edition last year, proved too strong for Thailand’s Est Cola.
The 193cm-tall Tran Thi Thanh Thuy was instrumental in lifting the home side 3-1 (27-25 25-18 20-25 25-19) win over Est Cola, led by ace spiker Wilavan Apinyapong, who joined VTV Binh Dien last year.
On Monday, Thong tin LVPB take on Est Cola, while a tough task awaits VTV Binh Dien when the host side will go up against China’s Fujian.
A total of eight strong teams are taking part in the nine-day competition. Hosts VTV Binh Dien, China’s Fujian, Vietnam’s Thong tin LVPB and Thailand’s Est Cola are in Pool A, with BIP of the United States, China’s Jiangsu, Almaty from Kazakhstan and Vietinbank in Pool B.
After the pool round-robin preliminaries on May 17, only top two teams from each pool will contest the cross semi-finals, while teams finishing third and fourth from each pool will be relegated to 5th-8th classification round.
At the previous edition last year, Bangkok Glass of Thailand reigned supreme following a dramatic 3-1 victory over VTV Binh Dien in the final showdown.
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