The 24-team field is down to four after a dramatic quarterfinal day in Santiago, with Chinese Taipei and defending champions China surviving five-set matches, Türkiye ending Korea’s unbeaten run and USA advancing without dropping a set
Published 03:30, 15 Aug 2026
Chinese Taipei and defending champions China won five-set quarterfinals Friday to join the United States and Türkiye in the semifinals of the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship, reducing the field from 24 teams to the final four.
Chinese Taipei earned its place in the final four with a 3-2 (15-25, 26-24, 29-27, 22-25, 15-7) win over Thailand, recovering from a one-sided opening set and coming through two extended sets before closing the match in the tiebreaker.
At the center of the win was outside hitter Chang Yun-Chen, who led Chinese Taipei with 25 points. The outside hitter scored 24 of those points in attack, including 10 in the second set as Chinese Taipei responded to losing the opener 25-15. She added four points in the 29-27 third set and two more in the fifth. Chen Ting-Yi and captain Cheng Yung-Yu contributed 15 points each.
Thailand stayed in the match behind Natthamon Ajchua, who finished with a match-high 32 points, including 31 attacks. After dropping the second and third sets, Thailand took the fourth 25-22 to force a tiebreaker, but Chinese Taipei won the fifth 15-7 to move into the semifinals.
Defending champions China followed a different route through five sets against Croatia. After taking the first two sets, China saw Croatia win the next two before responding in the tiebreaker for a 3-2 (25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 15-7) victory that kept their title defense going.
Croatia's Erin Ivezić delivered the highest individual total of the quarterfinals with 33 points, including 29 attacks. Emilie Stojić added 19 points and captain Lana Drviš had 15, while China spread its scoring across the lineup. Ren Sichen led the defending champions with 15 points, Chen Ruihan had 14 and Chen Xinyi finished with 10.
Türkiye ended Korea's unbeaten run with a 3-1 (21-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-17) victory. Korea entered the quarterfinals without a loss and won the opening set, but Türkiye responded by taking a 27-25 second set before winning the next two to secure its place among the final four.
Zeynep Doğa Alpay led Türkiye with 20 points, captain Ecrin Selis Türkyaşar added 18 and Nejla Guzonjic scored 17. Guzonjic accounted for eight of Türkiye's 21 blocks as the team finished with a 21-4 advantage in that category. Korea captain Son Seoyeon led all scorers in the match with 24 points.
The United States, meanwhile, continued the tournament's only run without a set loss, defeating Italy 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 26-24). After winning the first two sets comfortably, the Americans were pushed to 26-24 in the third before completing their seventh straight victory in straight sets.
Kari Knotts led USA with 19 points, including six aces, while Maya Ogbogu scored 13 and Julia Masselink added 12. The Americans finished with 40 attack points, seven blocks and 14 aces, compared with Italy's 29 attacks, three blocks and one ace.
From the 24 teams that began the World Championship, four remain in contention for the title. USA will face defending champions China in Saturday's first semifinal at 17:00 local time, before Chinese Taipei meet Türkiye at 20:00 at the National Stadium Park in Santiago.
The rest of Saturday's programme will continue with classification matches across the remaining positions. Peru face Czechia and Italy meet Croatia at 11:00, followed by Venezuela against the Philippines and Thailand against Korea at 14:00. Argentina play the Dominican Republic, Algeria meet Egypt and Mexico face Tunisia at 17:00, while Poland take on Japan, hosts Chile meet Puerto Rico and Brazil play Spain at 20:00.
