What Cai Bin was most worried about happened. The Chinese women's volleyball team was beaten and collapsed at the first pass. They met the "old ball player" Canadian women's volleyball team.
I don’t know since when did the Canadian women’s volleyball team become a bitter enemy for the Chinese women’s volleyball team?
On the morning of May 18th, Beijing time, at the Brazilian station of the World Women's Volleyball League, the Chinese women's volleyball team, which had previously won two consecutive victories, faced the Canadian women's volleyball team. After a fierce and stalemate offensive and defensive battle, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost 1 to 3. Since the Canadian team's world ranking is lower than that of the Chinese team, the Chinese team's world ranking was deducted 11.01 points, falling to seventh again.
The Chinese team and the Canadian team have met 9 times in official competitions before, and the Chinese team has the upper hand with 7 wins and 2 losses. The most recent match between the two teams ended with the Chinese women's volleyball team losing. In the women's volleyball qualifying match for the Paris Olympics last September, the Chinese women's volleyball team fought hard for 5 games and lost to the Canadian women's volleyball team 2-3, missing their fourth consecutive victory. At that time, Li Yingying scored 30 points and became the scoring leader. She also performed well on the defensive end, but it was a pity that "it is difficult to save the team alone."
In this year's World Women's Volleyball League, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated South Korea and the United States in a row, gaining a total of 10.06 points in the world rankings, and the world rankings were once promoted to fifth. The Canadian team first lost to the Brazilian team and then swept the Dominican team. It actually scored 10.25 points, significantly narrowing the gap with its competitor the Netherlands. So judging from this game, the Canadian women's volleyball team has a stronger desire to win.
The starting lineups of both sides in this campaign include the Chinese women's volleyball team's main attackers Li Yingying and Wu Mengjie, assistant attackers Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan, supporting Gong Xiangyu, setter Diao Linyu, and free agent Wang Mengjie. The Canadian women's volleyball team's main attackers are Gray and Hovey, with secondary attackers Maglio and White, supporting Van Ryker, setter Bree King, and libero Moorman.
Judging from the game process, this is a 50-50 game. The Canadian women's volleyball team's high-flying style of play is quite impactful and their defense is tenacious. In the third game, the Canadian team showed excellent defensive strength and scored 6 points in a counterattack. The Canadian team took a 2-1 lead.
In the crucial fourth game, the Chinese women's volleyball team led the way. With its serve to suppress the opponent, Li Yingying succeeded in several strong attacks, and Gong Xiangyu also shared the offensive pressure. Just when the Chinese women's volleyball team scored consecutive points, the Canadian team continued to challenge, disrupting the Chinese team's rhythm. The Canadian women's volleyball team, which had recovered its breath, began to chase points. At the end of the game, Van Ryck scored consecutive points on serve, and finally defeated the Chinese women's volleyball team.
The Canadian team has outstanding offensive ability. Gray is the main attacker for Serie A giant Conegliano, and Van Ryk plays for Turkish Airlines in the Turkish Super League. Both of them are outstanding. Under their leadership, the Canadian women's volleyball team has the ability to hit the first-tier teams. In this game, the two teamed up to score 48 points, with Van Ryck becoming the scoring leader with 27.
The shortcomings of the Chinese women's volleyball team are exactly the same as when they lost to their opponents in the Olympic qualifying matches. The first pass was unstable, resulting in the inability to effectively implement tactical attacks, and the ability to grasp opportunities was weak. During the previous intensive training of the Chinese women's volleyball team, head coach Cai Bin also focused on first-pass defense. First pass defense is the key to a volleyball game and has a direct impact on tactical organization, game rhythm and situation. In this game, Wang Yuanyuan and Yuan Xinyue were unable to use their fast ball tactics as secondary attackers, and neither of them scored in double figures.
Judging from the post-match statistics of the two teams, the Chinese team scored 3 points more offensively than the Canadian team. Li Yingying scored 24 points, Gong Xiangyu scored 15 points, and Wu Mengjie scored 12 points, all of which were good performances. However, the Chinese team's blocking and serving scores lagged behind their opponents, and they also made too many mistakes. It can be seen that in terms of overall strength, the Chinese team is better than the Canadian team, but the defensive details of first pass and block were not done well. It is a pity to lose the game.
In the last game of the Brazilian station, the Chinese team will face the world champion Serbian team.
