China against Chinese Taipei and Italy against Japan in U17 semis

China v Chinese Taipei and Italy v Japan shaped up as Friday’s semifinals of the inaugural FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in Lima as the historic tournament resumed with quarterfinal action on Thursday.

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Quarterfinals 1 – 8: Japan disappoint home crowd, China and Chinese Taipei ace away

Nearly six thousand fans on the stands of the Coliseo Eduardo Dibos and 10 kill blocks from the Peruvian team were not enough to stop Japan on their way to the best four of the competition. Completely outplaying the home team in attack (64-34 in spike kills), the Asian squad celebrated a 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-17) victory. In Japan’s best individual scoring performance at the championship so far, opposite Hikari Kudo contributed 23 points towards the win, including one ace. Outside hitters Saya Nakayama and Aileen Mcallister added 19 and 15 points, respectively. The latter authored three of Japan’s eight aces in the match. Peru’s 15-year-old captain Ariana Vasquez led her team with 16 points.

Pulling out their strongest weapon, the block, again, Italy came back from a set down in their quarterfinal against Türkiye to claim a 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-23) win and push forward to the semifinals. The winners put up as many as 16 kill blocks against 10 from the opponents, but the largest difference came in attack (54-35 in spike kills). Outside Stella Caruso powered the win with a 19-point match high, while setter Alessia Manda and middle blocker Alice Guerra led the blocking effort with four stuffs apiece. Opposite Aylin Uysalcan was Türkiye’s best scorer with 17 points.

In another four-set comeback, Chinese Taipei stunned Brazil to join the best four of the tournament. The Asian squad fired as many as 15 aces, which more than compensated for the 14 kill blocks by the South Americans to come up with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-19) victory. Taipei’s two outsides Chen Yi and captain Chen Pin-Yu shared the top scorer honours of the match with 19 points each, while middle Te-Jung Ma and sub-in opposite Chiu Fan-Chi excelled from the serving line with four aces apiece. Brazilian middle Livia Lins Silva was the best blocker of the game with five stuffs to her name.

China also excelled from the serving line and with the help of 13 aces achieved the only straight-set win of the quarterfinals. Setter Zhang Zixuan hammered a record-high eight direct serving points towards her team’s speedy 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-6) shutout of Mexico. China’s opposite Yang Shuming delivered the match high of 16 points.

In Friday’s semifinals, China will take on Chinese Taipei at 13:30 local time (18:30 UTC) and Italy will face Japan at 16:30 (21:30). In the battles for the distribution of the places from fifth to eighth, Mexico and Brazil will play at 10:30 (15:30), while hosts Peru will face Türkiye at 19:30 (00:30 +1 day).

Quarterfinals 9 – 16: 14-year-old leads Puerto Rico to victory, Thailand take out Egypt from the serving line

In the lower half of the playoff bracket, the quarterfinals for classification from ninth to 16^th place were also played on Thursday.

Led by 14-year-old opposite Decelise Champion with 21 points, Puerto Rico won the all-NORCECA clash with Canada by 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 25-19) and will meet Croatia on Friday at 17:00 (22:00) for spot in the ninth place match. Croatia celebrated their first win of the tournament, a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-19) shutout of the Dominican Republic. Outside Franka Golemac contributed a match-high 23 points.

Setter and captain Panthita Khongnok put away seven of Thailand’s 14 aces towards a 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-17, 25-13) victory over Egypt, while outsides Fasai Sapphot and Nour Awad Elsafy led the scorers with 17 points each for Thailand and for Egypt, respectively. In their quest for the ninth place, Thailand will next take on Argentina at 20:00 (01:00 + 1 day). The latter managed a 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-15) sweep of their game against fellow South Americans Ecuador. Argentina’s outside Justina Fortes was the best scorer of the match with 15 points.

In the semifinals within the lowest quarter of the bracket, Canada and the Dominican Republic will meet at 11:00 (16:00), while Egypt and Ecuador will face each other at 14:00 (19:00).

FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship: results and schedule

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