China dash Peru's hopes with a stunning turnaround
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China took a step closer to winning their fourth title in the Girls' Under-18 World Volleyball Championship on Saturday after powering past Peru in an epic hard-fought five-set thriller to set up a final showdown with the USA.
China, the three-time world champions who finished second to the hosts in the previous edition in Turkey two years ago, lost the first two sets to Peru 17-25 22-25 but came roaring back to take the next two sets 25-20 25-19.
The tie-breaker turned out to be a thriller from start to finish, with the lead changing hands several times. Peru, backed by noisy horn-blowing supporters, took a commanding 14-11 lead in the decider and needed just one more point to win the match and a final berth.
However, things turned sour for the Peruvians when China stormed back to save three match-points and continued their significant run to win the set 23-21, along with the match and a place in the final.
The other semi-final encounter saw the USA stop Brazil’s remarkable run by stunning the three-time world champions in another exciting tie-breaker. The American girls pulled off a stunning 3-2 (16-25 25-14 20-25 25-17 15-12) victory.
In other matches, Japan brushed aside Poland in straight sets 30-28 25-23 26-24 and Serbia downed the Dominican Republic in five exhausting sets 25-20 20-25 25-12 23-25 18-16 in the 5th-8th play-offs.
The 9th-12th play-offs saw Italy outclass Taiwan 3-0 (25-23 25-17 25-12) and Turkey beat Greece 3-1 (17-25 25-12 25-21 25-23), while Puerto Rico downed Egypt 3-1 (22-25 26-24 25-12 25-22) and Slovenia stunned Thailand 3-2 (25-22 25-21 22-25 20-25 15-6) in the 13th-16th classification round.
Thailand’s head coach Apichat Kongsawat said: “We met [Slovenia] before in a tournament in Peru. In this World Championship, we lost the first two sets, but came back in the next two.
“In the fifth set, Slovenia started serving very well and their blocking was exceptional. We could not catch up with them.
“We learned a lot from this tournament, especially to play against taller rivals. It was a good match,” he said.
Thai team captain Patcharaporn Sittisad added: “Slovenia played well, while our performance did not live up to the coach’s expectation. We lost concentration and failed to continue our fight into the final set.”
Meanwhile, Tunisia finished in 19th place after downing Algeria 3-1 (20-25 25-16 25-22 25-15), while Argentina claimed the 17th position following a 3-1 (27-25 23-25 25-17 25-16) win over Mexico.
