Ismailia, Egypt, September 12, 2019 - China remained the only team at the 2019 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship with the enviable distinction of not having dropped a single set, after shutting out Romania 3-0 (25-17, 30-28, 25-19) to open the quarterfinals here today and become the first team to make Friday's semifinals.
Semifinals on Friday
• China v Italy or Peru
• Brazil or Russia v USA or Japan
Romania are now confined to positions 5-8, where they meet the loser of the Italy v Peru match.
China set the pace early on in the first set, leaving Romania trying to play catch-up throughout the match.
Romania's Alexia Carutasu beats the China block of Xia Sijia and Zhang Kefan in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship in Ismailia.
Romania had a chance to draw level after two sets, but blew their counter-attack for their only match point at 26-27, before China finished it off on their own fifth match point with an ace by Zhang Kefan on Florina Murariu.
The two sides were close in the stats, but Romania's 35 unforced errors (including, rather unceremoniously, back-to-back rotation errors to end the match) were detrimental.
Wu Mengjie with 21 points for China was top scorer of the game. Alexia Carutasu scored 14 for Romania.
China remain on track in their quest for a fifth world title, after their successes in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2013.
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