Even without their Cuban-born Turkish star Melissa Vargas in play, China’s Tianjin Bohai Bank mastered a convincing sweep of their first Pool A game against Brazil’s Gerdau Minas of Belo Horizonte, to the delight of the home crowd in Hangzhou. Thus, the club from Tianjin achieved their second win in the history of the Club World Championships, after celebrating victorious only once during their two previous appearances.
The first set was the most competitive of the three. First, Minas failed to hold on to the five-point advantage they had at 9-4. Then, they opened another wide gap at 22-19, only to allow the home team six consecutive points towards winning the set. That was a momentum changer for the whole match and Tianjin dominated on the court over the next two sets. They finished the third set on a series of four points in a row, with middle blocker Yuan Xinyue bringing in match point with an ace and her cross-court teammate Wang Yuanyuan converting it with a monster block. Outside hitter Li Yingying delivered the match high of 19 points, including two aces and a kill block, for the winners. Wang Yizhu and Yuan Xinyue added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Middle Julia Kudiess raised five kill blocks to lead Minas with a total of 12 points, while opposite Kisy Nascimento finished with 11.
