China beat Thailand at volleyball world championship

World
Europe

China's women's volleyball team swept away their counterpart from Thailand with a striking 28-26, 25-20, and 25-23 victory in Pool F at the FIVB World Championship 2018 in Osaka, Japan.

Zhu Ting, captain of the team and ace spiker, nailed 20 points which, when combined with assistant setter Gong Xiangyu's 18 points, secured a dominant win.

Thailand took the first set 8-5 before the first technical timeout (TTO). Then both teams began to attack and Thailand entered the second technical timeout with a 16-13 set.

The game went back and forth until it was a 26-26 draw. The deadlock was broken when Gong Xiangyu scored two consecutive points with a straight spike and an inner spike, leading China to their third set point, an arduous win of 28-26 and a 1-0 game.

In the second set, China got a good start due to successive blocks, taking an 8-5 lead at the first TTO, and Yan Ni's block and attack bought China a 16-11 set at the second TTO.

Then China attacked hard and kept the advantage. Zhu Ting smashed a powerful spike, seizing a set point of 24-19. Thailand then saved one point but conducted a service loss, giving China a 25-20 set for 2-0.

The third set was much slower and went into the first TTO with an 8-8 draw, with only one point scored by China to make it 16-15 by the next TTO.

After the break, China got on the offense but Thailand managed to keep the score close. Finally, they got the match point thanks to their rival's turnover, but China ended up succumbing to their own turnover. Gong Xiangyu settled it 25-23 with China's second match point to claim a 3-0 game over Thailand.

China will face Azerbaijan on Monday.