JAPAN CRUSH HOSTS VIETNAM 3-0 FOR PERFECT RUN IN POOL A
Bac Ninh, Vietnam, June 12, 2018 – Talented Hinata shighihara tore the Vietnamese defence into shreds with her exceptional attacks as Japan made a perfect run in Pool A by not losing a set to their respective rivals in the pool round-robin preliminaries at the 19th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship at the Bac Ninh Gymnasium here on Tuesday.
Hinata Shighihara led Japan with 15 points including 10 kills from 19 attempts and 3 ace serves, while Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen scored 10 points for Vietnam.
Japan, five-time champions, remained invincible following straight-set wins over defending champions China and Thailand in their first two matches.
The well-organised Japan proved too strong for Vietnam, especially the powerful attacks and incredible speed at the net which the host side could not match. The splendid teamwork, solid defence and combinations play won the Japanese the first two sets with the similar margin 25-12 25-12.
In the third set, Vietnam, boosted by cheering home fans, challenged the formidable visitors seriously. Their intention bore fruits well Vietnam reduced the gap 20-23. The Japanese made short work of the rivals, allowing the host side only one more point to win the set 25-21 and match.
“Every match is not easy for us. Manami (Nishimura), Sai (Koya) and Hihata (Shighihara) played very well. Since our training this morning, the three players performed well and in this match against Vietnam, they proved to be our major forces to be reckoned with.
In the third set attack combinations between setter and spikers were not that good and that was why the on-going game was so close. We are now R1 (ranked 1) and are due to next take on R16 on the day after tomorrow. However, since Uzbekistan withdrew from the competition. We will have two rest days before resuming our competition. We changed several players in this match against Vietnam. Our players in this match did not play in the first two matches against China and Thailand That’s why we have to prepare our players for every match we will play,” said Japan head coach Kiyoshi Abo.
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