In the big match of the second competition day at the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship in Hangzhou, China, tournament hosts Tianjin Bohai Bank defeated Italy’s Numia Vero Volley Milan in three hard-fought sets to top the current standings in Pool A as the only undefeated team in the pool. Also on Wednesday, the other Italian team, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, registered their second straight-set victory as well, while the two Brazilian sides, Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte and Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia, celebrated their first wins in Hangzhou.
Women's Club World Champs 2024
Tianjin sweep day’s big match with Vero Volley at Club Worlds
Imoco also earn their second victory; Minas and Praia score first wins in Hangzhou
Published 01:44, 18 Dec 2024
Tianjin’s Li Yingying in a head-to-head over-the-net duel with Vero Volley’s Paola Egonu
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Pool A
In the last match of the second competition day, China’s Tianjin Bohai Bank mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) victory over Italy’s Numia Vero Volley Milan and it was their second straight-set win in the pool, which placed them on top of the table on a 2-0 win-loss record. In their last pool match on Friday, the home team will need to win one set against Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte to secure a spot in the semifinals and that’s only if Vero Volley beat Egypt’s Zamalek Giza in straight sets on Thursday.
With 10 stuffs against just three, Vero Volley completely outblocked Tianjin in this game, but it was the abundant unforced errors (22 against 10) that cost them dearly. The winners’ outside hitter and captain Li Yingying and Vero Volley’s star opposite Paola Egonu shared the top scorer honours of the match with 22 points each. Li’s tally included two aces and one kill block, while Egonu raised three kill blocks and fired one ace right on her 26th birthday. Tianjin’s other outside Wang Yizhu put away 11 points, while her Dutch counterpart on the Italian side Nika Daalderop finished with 10.
Earlier in the day, Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte achieved their first win in Hangzhou and climbed to second place in the pool table, on better point ratio than the team from Milan. They hammered out a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-14) shutout of Zamalek Giza, who are yet to win a set at the championship. Minas’s opposite Kisy Nascimento, Dutch outside hitter Celeste Plak, Dominican outside Yonkaira Pena and star middle blocker and captain Thaisa Menezes all dipped into the double digits, with 13, 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively. However, it was Zamalek’s outside Mariam Metwally Meeto who topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 15 points.
Pool B
Italy’s Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano opened the second competition day with a speedy 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-15) sweep of their game against Vietnam’s LP Bank Ninh Binh and, to a great extent, reserved their spot in the semifinals. They may or may not need to win just one set in their last pool match against Japan’s NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki on Friday, in order to qualify mathematically. Imoco’s 18-year-old opposite Merit Chinenyenwa Adigwe was the best scorer of the match with 17 points, including three aces and two kill blocks. Middle Marina Lubian impressed with five kill blocks, to which she added two aces and seven kills in attack to finish with 14 points. American outside Khalia Lanier also put away 14 points. Her tally included three aces and two kill blocks. Setter Nanami Seki excelled from the serving line as well, with four aces to her name. LP Bank’s opposite and captain Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen led her team with 13 points, all in offence. The Vietnamese team registered their second straight-set loss at the Club World Champs.
After being shut out by Imoco on Tuesday, Brazil’s Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia scored their first win of the tournament on Wednesday, a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-16) straight-setter against NEC Red Rockets. This way, each of the two teams is on a 1-1 win-loss record and 3 points, with the Japanese side edging ahead in the standings on point ratio. Russian outside Sofya Kuznetsova was on fire for Praia and scored as many as 23 points over the three sets of the match. She raised five kill blocks and hammered two aces towards her match-high tally. Her cross-court teammate Payton Caffrey of the United States added another 15 points. Middle blocker and captain Adenizia Da Silva also reached the double digits with 10 points. So did NEC’s outside Yoshino Sato with 13 and Brazilian opposite Lorrayna Da Silva with 12.
