Yesterday, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost five games to its old rival Italian women's volleyball team, ending the Hong Kong World League with 2 wins and 2 losses. Nagoya defeated Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, moved to Hong Kong and then Canada and Bulgaria, but the Chinese team, which won six consecutive games, "collapsed" in the last two games of the second week, first losing 0-3 to dark horse Poland, and losing 2-3 to Italy in the final game. Failed to withstand the test of two European powerhouses, such a result is obviously not good for the Chinese women's volleyball team. But the most important task this year is the Olympic qualifiers, the World League is just a training ground, and in the first two weeks of the event, the newly formed team exposed problems and showed its brilliance.
In eight games, except for the weaker Bulgaria, the Chinese team started all seven games with a set of lineups - mainly attacking Li Yingying and Wang Yunbi, secondary attacking Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan, receiving Gong Xiangyu, second setter Diao Linyu, and libero Wang Mengjie. In the context that Zhu Ting cannot return in the short term, this is the main lineup that Cai Bin relies on. The only post-00 Li Yingying among the above players, has grown into the absolute core of the team, winning the team's scoring title in seven games, and scoring a total of 156 points in the first two races, ranking third among all players, she is well-rounded, offensive and threatening.
But in last Saturday's game against Poland, the Chinese women's volleyball team had a fluctuating pass and an attack was blocked, and Li Yingying encountered a targeted block from her opponent, scoring only 13 points in the game. After the game, she took the initiative to take responsibility, saying that "her own attack is not very good". But the fans didn't seem to buy it, and after six consecutive wins, they suddenly suffered a brittle defeat, and public opinion once again appeared in public opinion for a while with comments such as "Cai Bin left class" and "missing Zhu Ting".
Li Yingying
Last night's game against Italy, Li Yingying was still firmly targeted by her opponent, but the overall performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team was more positive than against Poland. In the first two games, Li Yingying was restrained, but Gong Xiangyu, who was a strong receiver, stepped forward and not only scored by a fixed-point attack, but also cooperated with Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan to organize a back flight. The Chinese team relied on multiple points to evenly match their opponents in the first two games, 25-23 and 23-25, respectively. From the third inning, Li Yingying returned blood on the offensive end and scored repeatedly with strong attacks. Despite being heavily guarded, Li Yingying scored 24 points and won the scoring title, apparently in much better shape than against Poland. Gong Xiangyu was second in the game with 17 points, and the two highest-scoring players in Italy scored 15 points each. According to statistics, the gap between the Chinese team and the opponent is mainly in the success rate of one pass (20 times difference), which is also the key for Italy to win the last two games of the match.
Overall, the Chinese women's volleyball team showed good spirit in the first two weeks of the World League. The first six victories were not easy wins, and in many matches, there were headwinds, and every member of the Chinese team exerted their maximum energy to win the game. As captain Yuan Xinyue said after the 3-1 victory over the Netherlands, "When the score is glued, there are always people among us who stand up, such as Li Yingying, Gong Xiangyu, Wang Yuanyuan, Wang Yunbi and other attackers, as well as substitutes, can take their responsibilities on the field." ”
Yuan Xinyue
But it must also be noted that the Chinese women's volleyball team, which has only one lineup, is gradually showing fatigue. Finding a substitute who can shoulder heavy responsibilities from actual combat is also an important task for the Chinese women's volleyball team at present.
Hong Kong faced the Canadian women's volleyball team in the first game, and the opponent who lost two consecutive games and could not retreat launched a strong counterattack in the third game. Seeing that the Chinese team was 21-23 behind, head coach Cai Bin replaced Gong Xiangyu and Diao Linyu at this time, and replaced him with substitutes Ying Zheng Yixin and second setter Xu Xiaoting. Xu Xiaoting immediately organized a back flight tactic after coming on the field, and Zheng Yixin completed the score, and the pair of substitute combinations cooperated tacitly and left a deep impression on the outside world. When the Chinese team got the match point, Xu Xiaoting scored dramatically and directly with a serve, and the Chinese team won the third game 29-27, thus winning 3-0.
The 25-year-old Xu Xiaoting and Zheng Yixin, who just transferred from the secondary attack last year, have been repeatedly called on the field to chase points, and have performed well in several games against Brazil, the Netherlands, Japan and Italy. In last night's match against Italy, they also came off the bench in the fourth and fifth games when they were two points for three points, and after successfully completing the task of maintaining the team's three-point attack, they were replaced by the main players Gong Xiangyu and Diao Linyu, but unfortunately the main team members did not help the Chinese team win at a crucial moment. Why not let Xu Xiaoting and Zheng Yixin stay longer? It is the common voice of fans in the comment section.
The voice of the fans also shows from the side that this new Chinese women's volleyball team also has new highlights. The main players of "Cai Jiajun" main attack and secondary attack have a solid position, and they can have more choices in receiving and second setter, and find as many personnel combinations as possible before the Olympic qualification tournament to form a richer tactical routine, which will help the Chinese team to go steadily and far in key matches.
Author: Wu Shu
Editor: Gu Miao
Image: FIVB/Xinhua