China and United States finished their Volleyball Nations League 2023 Preliminary Phase campaigns with a five-set battle against each other. With both teams sure of their berths at the Finals in Arlington from July 12 through 16, the Asian team came back from a set down twice before emerging with a victory in the last Pool 5 match in Suwon on Sunday. China improved to an 8-4 win-loss record and 24 points, placing fourth in the current standings, ahead of Japan and Brazil, who are each on 7-4, 21 points and a game at hand. Finals hosts USA failed to regain the first place in the table and finished runners-up on 10-2 and 18 points, a point short of Preliminary Phase winners Poland.
VNL 2023
Li Yingying powers China to five-set win over USA
The Asian team finish Preliminary Phase on 8-4, hold the Americans in second place on 10-2
Published 11:05, 02 Jul 2023
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Outside hitter Li Yingying led China to success with a match-high 28 points, including two aces. The Asians outblocked their opponents by nine stuffs to three, with middle blockers Yuan Xinyue and Gao Yi leading the way with three each. Outside Kathryn Plummer was USA’s most prolific player with 22 points.
United States were well in control throughout the first set. Outspiking the opponents, the Americans opened up a wide gap, but in the end, it was two kill blocks, by opposite Andrea Drews and middle blocker Dana Rettke, with an overpass kill by Kathryn Plummer sandwiched in between, that brought three points in a row for 25-18. The second set went the opposite way, with outside Li Yinying leading China with six kills in attack and two aces in dominating throughout the set and winning it by 25-19.
China’s players celebrate
In set three, the Americans took their turn in dominating on the court. A solid Plummer helped her team cruise to a 25-19 close, herself scoring six points, including the set winner. China rushed into the fourth set on a 6-0 lead to prompt yet another one-sided affair. To keep the symmetry, now Li Yingying scored six points, including the 25-20 set winner with a back-row kill. USA started better in the tie-breaker to take a 5-3 lead. At that moment, however, two back-to-back points by Yuan Xinyue set off an amazing 11-point series for China, with outside Wang Yunlu behind the serving line and Li Yingying on fire in attack, which gave them a 12-5 lead and practically decided the match. Moments later, Gao Yi’s kill through the middle finished the game at 15-8.
“I feel very happy today, because the US team are very strong and there were difficult moments. But I just played relaxed and I hope to keep improving with every match,” said Li Yingying after the game. “This was a great win for our team. It gives us great confidence ahead of the Finals. We will work on our problems and keep improving.”
The last competition day in Suwon started with a five-set battle between southern European neighbours Serbia and Bulgaria. Led by outside Sara Lozo with 17 points, middle Maja Aleksic with 15 (five kill blocks) and opposite Tijana Boskovic with 14, the reigning world champions celebrated a victory. Bulgarian opposite Radostina Marinova registered the match high of 18 points, while middle Mira Todorova impressed with five kill blocks and three aces towards an 11-point tally.
Serbia finished in ninth place on a 6-6 win-loss record and 19 points and will miss the Finals. Despite the loss, Bulgaria survived in the VNL for next season, finishing on 2-10 and nine points, ahead of rookies Croatia (2-10 and six points), who were swept by Türkiye, , in their last Pool 6 game in Bangkok and were relegated to Volleyball Challenger Cup 2023 as the lowest placed challenger team.
Then Poland left Korea winless at the bottom of the final standings after mastering a shutout of the home team in Suwon. Polish Generation O star Magdalena Stysiak led the match scorers with 16 points. The European team finished on top of the final Preliminary Phase table on 10-2 and 29 points.
The Preliminary Phase will be completed with the last two games to be played in Bangkok: Italy v Japan at 17:00 local time (10:00 UTC) and Thailand v Brazil at 20:30 (13:30).
