In the second week of the women's qualifying round for the Volleyball Nations League 2025 (Hong Kong), Japan faced China on Saturday, June 21st (local time) and lost 1-3 (15-25, 12-25, 25-15, 22-25).
Starting Lineup
Japan
S Seki, OH Ishikawa (11), MB Araki (5), OP Wada (7), OH Sato (17), MB Yamada (7), L Kawabata
Substitutes: MB Yamada, S Nakagawa, OH Fukazawa (1), OH Kitamado, OH Akimoto (1)
China
OH Woo (24), MB Wang (11), OP Gong (16), OH Juan (12), MB Chen (7), S Chan (4), L Nee
Substitutes: OH Dong (3), L Wan
Battle Review
First set: China shuts down Japan with six blocks
From the beginning, China took a 1-5 lead with MB Chen's spikes and blocks, and Japan's attack mistakes. From there, Japan closed in on China with OP Wada's spikes and other efforts, leading to 10-11, but China continued to score with S Chan's blocks and other efforts, widening the gap again to 12-18. After that, China continued to score with spikes from OH Wu and OP Gong, giving them the lead at 15-25.
Set 2: China dominates with spikes and blocks
China took the lead at 4-9 with spikes and blocks from OH Zhuan. After that, Japan struggled to attack and get a side-out, while China continued to score, mainly with OH Wu and OH Zhuan, to further widen the gap to 10-20. China continued to break the game and won the set by a large margin of 12-25.
Third set: Substitutes come on strong and Japan takes back the set
Japan replaced OP Wada and S Seki with OH Kitamado and S Nakagawa from the start.
From the beginning, Japan took the lead 5-2 with a service ace from OH Ishikawa, and then OH Sato's spikes and other points added to the lead, widening the gap to 8-3. From there, OH Sato's spikes led to more points, and in the middle of the game, relief server OH Fukazawa's serve was followed by MB Yamada's spikes, leading to breaks, and Japan further widened the gap to 19-10. After that, Japan scored more points with a service ace and spike from OH Kitamado, taking the set back 25-18.
Set 4: OH Wu wins close match with 10 points
China took the lead 3-6 with OH Wu's spikes and blocks. China further increased their lead to 6-11 with spikes from OP Gon and others. From there, OH Ishikawa scored a spike from a good serve from S Nakagawa to make it 10-11, and then relief server OH Fukazawa's service ace made it 13-13. After that, the game was close and the score was 19-19. However, China broke with OH Wu's spike, and OH Wu also scored a spike at the end to make it 22-25 and win 1-3.
Match stats:https://vnlw.volleystation.com/en/matches/2227541
personal MVP
S Nakagawa Tsukasa
Team attack effectiveness rate (3rd and 4th sets only) 29%
From the third set, she regained her footing with a skillful build-up that also included mid-range shots. Although she is at a disadvantage in terms of blocking due to her height of 159cm, she made a great impact and made a big impact.
OH Wu Mengjie
24 points (19 attacks, 2 serves, 5 blocks), attack efficiency rate 44%
China's next-generation point getter scored the most points. She showed her presence in all aspects of the game, including attack, serve, and block.
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Qualifying Round Rankings
As of 4:30am on Monday, June 23
1 Italy 8 wins 0 losses 22 points 24/5 sets
2 Brazil 7 wins, 1 loss, 20 points, 21/7 sets
3 Türkiye 7 wins, 1 loss, 19 points, 22/8 sets
4 Poland 6 wins, 1 loss, 18 points, 20/7 sets
5 Japan 6 wins, 2 losses, 18 points, 21/8 sets
Volleyball ball
6 China 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 18/13 sets
7 Germany 4 wins, 4 losses, 14 points, 18/16 sets
8 USA 4 wins, 4 losses, 11 points, 15/16 sets
9 Czech Republic 4 wins 4 losses 10 points 14/16 sets
10 Dominican Republic 4 wins, 4 losses, 9 points, 13/18 sets
11 France 3 wins, 5 losses, 10 points, 15/18 sets
12 Netherlands 3 wins, 5 losses, 10 points, 13/18 sets
13 Bulgaria 3 wins, 5 losses, 9 points, 14/20 set
14 Belgium 3 wins, 5 losses, 8 points, 11/19 set
15 Canada 2 wins, 6 losses, 6 points, 11/22 set
16 Thailand 1 win 7 losses 5P 8/22 set
17 South Korea 1 win 7 losses 4 points 8/23 set
18 Serbia 0 wins, 7 losses, 5 points, 11/21 set
Next race information
June 22nd (Sun) 17:30～ vs Czech Republic
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Photo: FIVB
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