Montreux Volley Masters News: The United States and China Confirm Their Dominance
Montreux, June 9, 2010. The second day of the Volley Masters started in a great manner with the USA finally overcoming the Germans (3-1) after a spectacular game. Then, while the Netherlands could not find a solution against a powerful and well coordinated China (0-3), Russia also logically defeated Japan in three sets.
Lucky were the spectators who have been able to leave work earlier this afternoon and enjoyed the game opposing the USA to Germany. From the very beginning, the German players have dominated their opponents to finally win the first set 25-19. The second set started in a similar way and Germany was up by 8 points. However after substituting their setter Mary Spicer for Courtney Thomson, the Americans managed to catch up and came in the game. The incredibly exciting end of the second set kept the public in suspense, and the USA had to wait 11 set balls before winning on the score of 35 to 33! McCutcheon’s players, after speeding up their game and taking advantage at the same time from a decline on the German side, could steadily win the following two sets (25-20 then 25-22) and therefore obtain their second victory of the tournament. Beside the defeat, Germany can be proud of the resistance they offered and especially of the manner they entered the match.
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On the second game, the Netherlands fought well against China but this was not enough and they were overpowered 3-0. After yesterday’s defeat against Cuba, the Dutch would need a little miracle in order to take part in this week-end’s semi-final. In addition, tonight China left on the bench their staring player Yimei Wang like on the previous evening. But even without her on the court, the Chinese team was stable and successful at executing its offensive system while the Dutch got into troubles and their young setter could not find a solution. During each set, the Asians were leading the way, under the watchful eye of Jizhong Wei, President of the FIVB. The bronze medalists from the 2008 Olympic Games could usually find a way to pass the Dutch block, which was lacking some coordination. On the other hand, the Chinese wall became stronger and stronger, and particularly effective in the last set, in which occurred 7 of their 15 blocks for the match.
The last match of the evening faced a motivated and perfectly organized Japanese squad on one side against Russia coming back after an absence of two years. While the spectators were expecting a tied game between both teams, the suspense did not last long since the Russians quickly took the advantage over their opponents. An evident height difference (an average of 186 cm for the Eastern Europeans compared to 176 cm for the Asians) helped Russia control the Japanese offense by touching an incalculable number of balls with their block. The Russian game seemed however predictable since it exclusively turned on three players (Fateeva, Gonchareva et Kosheleva). But the Japanese could not find their way around and were defeated after 72 minutes on the score of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-21. After tonight’s performance, we would not be surprised if the Russians were able to qualify for Saturday’s semifinals.
