Volleyball Super League Final | BAIC men's volleyball team suffered a crisp defeat in the first game Li Mu believes that the players can get out of the trough as soon as possible

On the evening of April 7, a large number of fans gathered at Beijing Guangcai Stadium to cheer for the Beijing BAIC men's volleyball team to defend its title. It's a pity that the BAIC men's volleyball team failed to curb the offensive of the Shanghai men's volleyball team, losing to the opponent in three games of 18-25, 21-25 and 21-25, and suffered a complete defeat in the first home game of the best-of-five finals, and the big score was temporarily 0-1 behind.

The Beijing-Shanghai men's volleyball team has previously played 7 peak duels in the finals of the Chinese Men's Volleyball League, the Shanghai men's volleyball team has won the championship 4 times, and the BAIC men's volleyball team has won the championship 3 times. Among them, the Shanghai men's volleyball team completed four consecutive championships from 2015 to 2019, while the BAIC men's volleyball team won the final championship in the last two leagues. This made the 8th Beijing-Shanghai summit duel attract more attention.

In this game, BAIC men's volleyball head coach Li Mu sent the same starting lineup as the semi-finals to defeat the Hebei Baoding men's volleyball team in five games. The second setter Liu Ze continued to start, captains Zhang Binglong and Deng Xinpeng played the main attack, foreign aid Holt and Maxim played the secondary attack, Tsinghua University teenager Hu Zhenzhuo served as the receiver, and libero Chen Jiajie made his debut. The Shanghai men's volleyball team played the main lineup, including national player Zhang Zhejia and star foreign aid Kubiak.

Beijing and Shanghai have met twice in this league, and both sides have won at home. However, the Shanghai men's volleyball team responded to the attack line formed by Atanasievich and the main attack Kubiak, which left a deep impression on the fans. Serbia's Atanasievic, who has won the Champions League and Italian league's best reception, has strong individual ability, while Poland's main striker Kubiak has previously played for Beijing and is loved by Beijing fans. The foreign setter Kavanna introduced by the Shanghai men's volleyball team in the second phase also improved the team by one level in terms of scheduling. Before the league finals, Li Mu said frankly that the strength of the BAIC men's volleyball team is not as good as that of the Shanghai team, and the whole team needs to improve its state and calm down.

In the first game of the finals, the BAIC men's volleyball team and the Shanghai men's volleyball team competed in the serving and blocking links. The Shanghai men's volleyball team is even better at the net, winning at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. BAIC men's volleyball setter Liu Ze's performance was suppressed, and there was a mismatch many times. As the score gap between the two teams once widened to 9 points, the BAIC men's volleyball team used up two pause opportunities, and there was no obvious improvement in blocking defense at the net. The Shanghai men's volleyball team won the first game 25-18.

In the second game, foreign aid Yuri made his debut, but the BAIC men's volleyball team still fell behind in the competition for key balls at the net. Atanasievic's outstanding performance on the serve side suppressed the first-pass system of the BAIC men's volleyball team, and at the same time, the second-pass made the team's offensive and defensive speed one step faster, making the BAIC men's volleyball team passive. The Shanghai men's volleyball team won another game 25-21. In the two games, the players on the BAIC men's volleyball court were mismatched and even saw the ball fall to the ground and no one saved the ball, showing that they were carrying a lot of psychological baggage.

In the third game, the BAIC men's volleyball team's deputy attacker, Holt, served and continuously hit the opponent and made a pass, playing a wave of small climaxes. It's a pity that the key balls at the net frequently lost points, and the score gap was quickly widened. While attacking sharply, the Shanghai men's volleyball team also hit the morale of the BAIC men's volleyball team with high-intensity blocking nets. In the middle of the game, the veteran Tang Chuanhang, who had an excellent performance in the last game, appeared on the court, and at the end of the game, Holt and Tang Chuanhang's serve helped the BAIC men's volleyball team chase the score. But in the end, the Shanghai men's volleyball team still won 25-21 and successfully won the first away game of the final.

After the game, Li Mu faced a 0-3 home loss, and he also smiled bitterly, he said: "Today's game, we need to go back and watch the video, this is not only a question of which link, it is an all-round downwind, the opponent gives us a lot of pressure." Our players can't keep up with the opponents, there's nothing we can do about it, the gap is really too big. ”

Regarding the performance of the players on the BAIC men's volleyball court, Li Mu described it as bad, "Shanghai did play better, while our players played badly." Some of us can't get points easily, it's our own problem. Maybe everyone is still not used to the finals, no opponent enters the role faster, and the speed of entering the game is not as fast as the opponent. ”

The Beijing team won three games at home, and Shen Qiong, the head coach of the Shanghai men's volleyball team, said that his side was more prepared before. "Before this final, we were prepared for the difficulties. There are many new talents in the Beijing team, such as Deng Xinpeng's strong serve, etc., and we have made preparations. ”

Shen Qiong said that although the Shanghai men's volleyball team has won more championships, this game still came with the mentality of impacting the opponent, "Today, both sides are under great pressure and are eager to win." The Beijing team won the league championship before, and we came to play with an impact mentality this time. The three foreign players in Shanghai have really improved the team a lot, and the integration of domestic players and them has done a good job. ”

The two sides will then travel to Shanghai for two matches on April 11 and 14 at the Luwan Stadium, the home of the Shanghai men's volleyball team. Talking about the second and third legs of the next away finals, Li Mu said that he believes in the adjustment ability of this group of players and seizes the time to ensure that everyone comes out of the trough. "We played the final this time, compared to the last final, the lineup and strength are completely different, we have a strong side attack, and we need our players to show better strength and a more relaxed mentality to impact the victory. He said.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chu Peng

Editor/Xu Zhao