ARLINGTON, United States, July 13 (Xinhua) — China emerged victorious over Brazil, with a 3-1 rating, in Thursday’s third quarter-final of the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) match held in Arlington, Texas.
Owing to aggressive techniques and superior blocks (15-6), China received the extreme competitors with units scored 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, and 25-23.
Li Yingying, the 23-year-old exterior hitter, topped the staff with 16 kills, whereas 26-year-old Gong Xiangyu contributed 14 in offense.
China captain, Yuan Xinyue, praised as “a wall at the net” by volleyballmag.com, recorded seven blocks and 6 kills. At a vital juncture within the fourth sport, with the rating 22-22, she thwarted Julia Bergmann and Tainara Santos consecutively. Despite the Brazilians making a profitable kill thereafter, they conceded the ultimate level by serving into the web.
“There were two significant moments. The first was during the initial set when the score was 17-17; the Chinese coach called a timeout, and his team responded well. The second was in the fourth set, when the score was 18-18. He called another timeout, and they responded positively to secure the match,” Lee Feinswog, co-publisher and editor of volleyballmag.com, informed Xinhua.
“China executed a truly great game today,” mentioned Brazil Captain Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimaraes, highlighting not simply Li’s impactful offense however the total distinctive efficiency of the Chinese staff.
In the match, the Brazilians surpassed China in kills (60 to 49) and aces (eight to 1), however dedicated considerably extra errors (30 to fifteen).
Looking forward to the Saturday semifinal towards top-seeded Poland, Chinese coach Cai Bin affirmed his staff “will adjust accordingly based on Poland’s offense and their whole playing system.”
“We are going to fight harder,” Cai declared. Poland had defeated China 3-0 within the preliminary spherical and had bested Germany 3-1 (25-12, 21-25, 25-21, 26-24) in Wednesday’s first quarter-final match, simply hours earlier than the United States topped Japan in 4 units (25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18).
The United States is slated to face Türkiye on Saturday, following the latter’s sweeping victory over defending champions Italy, 3-0, in Wednesday’s final quarter-final sport.
The VNL, the world’s premier annual worldwide indoor volleyball match, has narrowed down the 16 preliminary groups to eight following 96 matches that concluded on July 2.
The medal matches are scheduled for Sunday.