China finish World Cup second round in style
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China.org.cn, November 9, 2011
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Wang Yimei led China's attack against Argentina with 16 points. |
China, who have won the World Cup crown in 1981, 1985 and 2003, haven't been in their most dominant form over these opening two rounds and a true test against heavyweights USA and Brazil lies ahead.
The Asian champions, who have a World Cup silver and two bronze to their name, had collected three comeback wins before the Argentina match and although they looked inconsistent at times, weren't in any serious doubt of registering another victory.
Wang Yimei led China with 16 points. For Argentina, Paula Yamila Nizetich played with emotion to notch 12 points.
In contrast to previous matches when China had started slowly, Yu Juemin's team decided to show up from the beginning, with Hui Ruoqi doing it all for China's early scoring on a block, and ace, and a blistering spike helping them up 12-3. Wang Yimei would post six in the set to help China on its way to an insurmountable 23-6 lead, and despite three forceful attacks from Nizetich late (including a beautiful ace and a drive that painted the baseline), China would close it on a spike from Zhang Lei 25-10.
In the second set, Argentina's Nizetich served up another ace to help her side lead 6-2. She played with fierce emotion, though at times it got the better of her, sailing a couple of attacks long, including one that let China slip ahead 14-9. China's serving was terrible at times, with a trio of errors letting Argentina pull in close again but overall it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit as Wang Yimei recovered nicely with an ace on set point to take it 25-18.
Florencia Natasha Busquets was attacking well at the net to start the third set, and she added an ace to put her side up three early on. Her side was serving was great passion, helping Argentina stay ahead 14-10 but China managed to stay close, close enough to launch a late attack. China continued to serve poorly as a Yang Junjing serve went wide to let Argentina think of claiming their seventh set of the tournament with the score at 21-18 but Ma took over late with a cameo performance, throwing down three spikes to help China reach set point, and then an ace to squeak it out 25-23, taking the match to main China's unbeaten record against Argentina which now totals three games.
Both teams now transfer to their third round venues - China to Sapporo (Site A) while Argentina heads to Okyama (Site B).
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