Can a new "Zhou Suhong" be born?, Cai Bin changes starting lineup, ranking first in China's women's volleyball team's six consecutive wins. China | Gong Xiangyu | China's women's volleyball team

On June 16th, Beijing time, at the Hong Kong leg of the World Women's Volleyball League, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Bulgarian women's volleyball team 3-1 after losing one inning, achieving six consecutive wins and surpassing the Polish women's volleyball team in points, ranking first. In an earlier match, the Polish women's volleyball team suffered a devastating 0-3 defeat to the Dutch women's volleyball team, marking their first ever defeat in this World League.

In this game, the starting lineup of the Chinese women's volleyball team consists of main attackers Li Yingying, Wang Yunlu, secondary attackers Yuan Xinyue, and Wang Yuanyuan, followed by Zheng Yixin, setter Diao Linyu, and free agent Wang Mengjie. The unchanging starting lineup has finally been revitalized, with Zheng Yixin replacing Gong Xiangyu who suffered a sprain in the previous game in the starting lineup.

The Bulgarian women's volleyball team had a fierce first inning, but took advantage of the unstable foothold of the Chinese women's volleyball team to grab the first inning. But later on, the Chinese women's volleyball team relied on serving to break through the opponent's one pass system, while occupying an advantage in the net, leaving the Bulgarian women's volleyball team with almost no room for counterattacks.

Caren

According to post match technical statistics, the Chinese team outperformed their opponents in all scoring aspects of attack, blocking, and serving. Among them, the Chinese women's volleyball team scored 10 points in serving, while the opponent scored 0 points. In terms of personal scores, Chinese team Li Yingying scored the highest of 18 points in the game, Yuan Xinyue scored 13 points, Wang Yunlu scored 10 points, Wang Yuanyuan scored 9 points, and Zheng Yixin scored 8 points.

There is no suspense in winning the opponent, and the changes in the starting lineup give people more room for imagination. Prior to the match, it was reported that Gong Xiangyu would be absent from the upcoming matches due to a foot injury, and the injury of the main player's return would undoubtedly be a significant loss for the team. In the game, Gong Xiangyu came on as a substitute in the third inning, shattering rumors of injury recovery. In the third and fourth innings, substitute players such as Xu Xiaoting, Zhong Hui, Gao Yi, and Yang Hanyu appeared one after another, which also brought a happy victory to the Chinese women's volleyball team.

Zheng Yixin's debut is not so much about giving Gong Xiangyu more rest time, but rather about Cai Bin's solemn promotion of the modified reception position.

Zheng Yixin was originally a secondary attacker for the Chinese women's volleyball team, and her back flight left a deep impression on fans. However, at a height of 1.87 meters, she does not have an advantage in the secondary position. After switching to playing and receiving, Zheng Yixin showed a very good competitive state on the field.

Zheng Yixin

In the first round of Nagoya, Japan, when the Chinese women's volleyball team faced the Brazilian women's volleyball team, Zheng Yixin came on as a substitute in the second inning with a two-point three-point change. She was very active, and her erratic movements also made the Brazilian women's volleyball team unable to defend. A netizen sighed, "After so many years, the Chinese women's volleyball national team finally found a new Zhou Suhong."

Former captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team, Zhou Suhong, not only has excellent defense with a single pass, but also her running and attacking ability can catch the opponent off guard. Especially, her double back flying ball rate is very high, which can be regarded as the absolute attacking point of the Chinese women's volleyball team and also the world's top receiver. The current Chinese women's volleyball national team adopts a strong and responsive approach, with Gong Xiangyu mainly focusing on targeted strong attacks and rarely playing running attacks.

Last season in the Chinese Super League, Zheng Yixin led the Fujian women's volleyball team to the semi-finals, creating history. Zheng Yixin, as the captain of the Fujian women's volleyball team, played an important role. After switching to playing and receiving, she brought significant changes to the team, performing outstandingly in multiple aspects such as attack, passing, defense, and blocking. Her playing style is similar to that of her predecessors Zhou Suhong and Zhang Lei, both of which are running type receptionists. She is skilled in using tactics such as back flying, double fast, and double back flying. Zheng Yixin not only won the best pick of last season, but also was once again selected for the national team.

Zheng Yixin

It is reported that the reason why Zheng Yixin switched to running and receiving was still a suggestion from Cai Bin to Fujian women's volleyball coach Shen Duo. In the absence of excellent receiving in the Chinese women's volleyball team, Cai Bin is very optimistic about Zheng Yixin, who has versatile skills and can run and attack, hoping that she can replicate the running and receiving style of Zhou Suhong in the past.

In fact, during Lang Ping's coaching period, Zheng Yixin was also transformed into a successor. In the 2019 Swiss Elite Tournament, Zheng Yixin participated as a substitute, but due to her low pass accuracy and insufficient strong attacking ability, her performance was not ideal, so she continued to focus on secondary attacks. In the final of the World League that year, Zheng Yixin, with outstanding performance, countered Hu Mingyuan and won the opportunity to compete in the Olympic qualifiers and World Cup. However, Zheng Yixin's height was ultimately a weakness, and she did not qualify to participate in the Tokyo Olympics with the team.

At the beginning of Cai Bin's coaching career, although Zheng Yixin was also selected for the training roster, he struggled to develop due to the presence of tall secondary attackers such as Yuan Xinyue, Wang Yuanyuan, Yang Hanyu, and Gao Yi in the team, and ultimately failed to be selected for the World Championships 14 man roster. For Zheng Yixin, switching to playing and receiving is expected to usher in the second spring of her career. However, compared to the running tactics of repeatedly scoring, Zheng Yixin's strong attacking ability is slightly insufficient, and her attacking speed and strength also need to be strengthened.

Cai Bin

Cai Bin previously stated in an interview that Zheng Yixin played very well in the receiving position and had unique characteristics in running and attacking. Zheng Yixin, as a successor, can enrich the tactical system of the Chinese women's volleyball team and bring more choices to the team's changes.