2017 FIVB WORLD LEAGUE – POOL G2
• June 16-18, 2017
• Kushan, China
• Schedule/Results
Japan edged out Turkey in a back-and-forth five-setter, while China downed Australia in four sets on Day 2 of Pool G2 action.
The victory puts China alone at the top of the group at 2-0, building on its Friday sweep of Turkey. Meanwhile Australia and Japan now stand at 1-1.
Japan 3, Turkey 2 (22-25, 25-12, 22-25, 25-19, 15-12)
Yuki Ishikawa downed 21 kills, while Masahiro Yanagida served up five aces and added 12 kills to lift Japan over Turkey on Saturday. The Japanese managed eight aces in the match, while also adding 61 kills and seven blocks. Turkey tallied 52 kills, 12 blocks and four aces, but gave Japan 33 points on errors.
“One of the reasons of the win today is serving, it worked well today,” Japanese coach Nakagaichi Yuichi said. “But we also made lots of easy mistakes; we have to practice after the match.”
Set 1 was a back-and-forth affair as Japan led 16-15 at the midway point and Turkey rallied for a 19-16 lead and the 25-23 win. In Set 2, Japan cruised to a 16-8 advantage in a 25-12 drubbing. Set 3 saw Turkey lead 13-11, but Japan take a late 19-17 edge. The teams tied at 21 before an ace by Mert Matic and a few Japanese miscues gave Turkey the 25-22 win.
In Set 4, Turkey built an early 6-3 lead and boasted a 12-10 advantage midway through, but Japan used its offensive firepower to grab a 21-17 edge, before wrapping up the 25-19 win with two aces by Issei Otake.
Japan took a 10-7 lead in the decisive fifth set and held off a late Turkish charge for the win. Turkey was within one at 11-10, prompting a Japanese timeout, but it was not enough.
Serhat Coskun tallied a match-high 26 points, with 22 kills and four blocks. Matic added 18 points, with 14 kills and four blocks.
“Congratulations to Japan,” Turkey coach Joshko Milenkoski said. “We changed a little today; we started with new opposite and middle blockers. We started well today, we had chance to win, but Japan started to serving well. They had amazing serves, which caused us big problem. We did good in blocks but made too many mistakes. However, I am satisfied with the team because some of the players were playing their first game, I think they played well.”
China 3, Australia 1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-17)
A few points here and there were the difference in the match between the host Chinese and Australia on Saturday. China tallied one more kill (49-48), three more blocks (10-7), two more aces (5-3) and got help from two more miscues (28-26) in a close four-set match.
Australia scored five straight to stretch a 16-15 advantage to six at 21-15 en route to a 25-17 Set 1 win. China bounced back to take an 11-7 lead in Set 2. Australia tied it up at 13 but could not break through. Set 3 was tied 15-all at the midway point and again at 20-all late, but a kill by Chuan Jiang was the final dagger in a 25-23 Japanese win. Australia fell behind 14-7 in Set 4 and never recovered as Libin Liu heated up down the stretch in the 25-17 victory.
Jiang led all hitters with 23 points, including 18 kills and four aces. Liu (15) and Daoshuai Ji (14) also posted double-digit points efforts. Ji managed 13 kills, while Liu scored 12 kills and three blocks.
Lincoln Alexander Williams led Australia with 19 points, including 16 kills and two aces. Samuel Walker (13) and Beau Graham (10) followed.
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