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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Fujian edged Beijing in a five-set thriller (25-23, 26-24, 24-26, 20-25, 15-10) in the opening match of the 2024-25 China Women's Volleyball Super League (VSL) season in Beijing on Saturday. The league introduced a series of reform measures this season, aiming to elevate the overall level of play.
The league has been divided into A and B tiers. Tier A includes the top eight teams from last season, and Tier B features the remaining teams, youth teams from Tier A clubs, and university teams. China's national team libero Wang Mengjie, who joined Beijing this season, said the new format benefits all participants.
"I believe opportunities and challenges coexist," Wang told CGTN Sports Scene's Yuan Rui. "It provides new players and teams with chances and further promotes our improvement. For now, I need to catch up with the game's pace and the team's rhythm as soon as possible and adapt quickly."
Fujian nearly blew a 2-0 lead after Beijing came back from 21-14 down to pull one back and then took the fourth to force a deciding set. Twenty-one-year-old national team player Zhuang Yushan led the visitors to a 3-2 victory with a game-high 29 points.
"My performance might have been a bit inconsistent," Zhuang said. "I failed to step up when needed in the third set. But in the fifth set, my teammates helped me regain my form, and I'm very grateful to them. In the new format, we will challenge stronger teams, which is a good test for us. And we will try to stay in the top eight."
Outside hitter Edina Begic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and opposite hitter Jelena Vulin from Serbia made their debut for Beijing. Having scored a team-high 27 points, Begic told Sports Scene that she's excited to play in China, and also saw it as a chance to enhance her skills.
"I was playing in Italy the majority of the time, and in Türkiye, Russia," Begic said. "And I was really excited to come to China. I can see in the first game, there's a lot of defense, a lot of rallies, and that's what I heard about the Chinese league that there is like really a lot of rallies. It's super exciting to be here. It's going to be another learning process also for me, how to score, how to do shots, how to become a better player."