But it still can't cover up the shortcomings. The Chinese women's volleyball team, which "wins by doing nothing" to enter the Olympics, has won two consecutive victories.
On the evening of June 14, at the World Women's Volleyball League Hong Kong Station, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the German women's volleyball team 3-0, achieving two consecutive victories. Since the Chinese women's volleyball team had already secured the qualification for the Paris Olympics before the game, the girls went into battle lightly and played more easily against opponents with slightly weaker strength. In the next two games, the Chinese women's volleyball team will face the Turkish and Polish women's volleyball teams respectively, which will be the real test.
The Chinese women's volleyball team's road to the Olympics can be described as full of twists and turns. After losing to the Japanese and Italian women's volleyball teams in Macau, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost the No. 1 spot in Asia. In Hong Kong, the Chinese women's volleyball team played steadily, especially in the first two games where the opponents were relatively weak, and they tried their best to win the games and take the initiative. After winning the Bulgarian women's volleyball team, the Chinese women's volleyball team received good news one after another. First, the US women's volleyball team defeated the Dutch women's volleyball team 3-0, helping the Chinese women's volleyball team get tickets to the Olympics in advance; then the Japanese women's volleyball team lost to the Canadian women's volleyball team 2-3, and the Chinese women's volleyball team surpassed the Japanese women's volleyball team in the world ranking points and returned to sixth place.
The Chinese women's volleyball team has completed the first goal of getting an Olympic ticket, and the second goal is to strive to advance to the finals. In last year's World Women's Volleyball League, the Chinese women's volleyball team achieved the best result in history, finishing second. The host Thai women's volleyball team and the top seven teams in the World League will enter this year's finals. Currently, the Chinese women's volleyball team ranks sixth. Facing the world's first and third Turkish and Polish women's volleyball teams, the Chinese women's volleyball team has to fight hard to have a chance.
Judging from the starting lineups in the last two games, Zhu Ting and Li Yingying jointly play the main attacking position, and the other positions remain basically unchanged, with Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan as the secondary attackers, Gong Xiangyu as the opposite, Diao Linyu as the second setter, and Wang Mengjie as the libero, forming a "iron starting lineup". This is also the strongest lineup of the Chinese women's volleyball team at present.
In the match against the German women's volleyball team, the Chinese women's volleyball team had impressive statistics. In terms of offensive points, the Chinese team scored 47 points, while the German team scored 39 points. The opponent gave up 12 points due to their own mistakes. However, during the game, the German women's volleyball team's serve and flat attack still had a certain impact and played with characteristics.
CCTV volleyball commentator Li Ying specifically mentioned the shortcomings of the Chinese women's volleyball team in blocking, including the timing of taking off, hand movements, and coordination between players. It was not until the end of the game that the Chinese women's volleyball team's blocking improved slightly. In the end, the Chinese team scored 4 points in blocking and the opponent scored 3 points in blocking. If they encounter strong opponents such as Turkey and Poland, it will be difficult for the Chinese team to build an effective barrier in blocking, which will also bring great pressure to the team's defense. Once they cannot organize an effective defensive counterattack, it will be very difficult to win.
In addition, Li Ying mentioned many times that the setter should stand at the highest point of the net when passing the ball to the attacker, so that the attacker can use the force to spike more comfortably; in addition, the idea of distributing the ball should be clear and decisive. In the game, there were many mismatches between the setter and the attacker, which should not happen in a high-level team.
For the Chinese women's volleyball team, reaching the finals will give them more opportunities to play in actual games, and getting more points will help them get into the group draw for the Olympics. How the next games are played will test the coaching team's strategy. The team has technical shortcomings. Can they be improved in a short period of time? In terms of using Zhu Ting, does she still need to play the whole game? Do other main players need to take turns to rest so that young players can get a chance to play and practice? We will also find the answers through the games.
