2014 FIVB World Championship - Italy - 9/23

    Congrats to Jenny Lang Ping!! It's the second time she surprises us with her NTs(first with USA and then with China). The last time China played the final at Wch was in 1998. 2002 was the last time China qualified for final round.
    They are young players. It may be a dangerous team in the following years.

    now im expecting a lot from both Gold and bronze medal matches....especially Brazil -Italy will be interesting :lol:


    i think Usa will win the gold...Zhu Ting was tired today and i cant see any other reliable attacker on Chinese side...if they can play a very good team play then why not ? i still dont think Hill has a good reception..good serves can damage her reception for sure...the problem is that Chinese players arent serving well stably, except Yuan...

    it has been too long....
    Congratulations to China NT, after 16 years, comes back to World Championchamp Gold medal match.
    as an all-rounded team in the world, Italy has high efficient attacks and precise counter-attack system, as a real tough opponent existing to China, as USA and Brazil do for years. Italy has been dominant the tournament until losing the most impressive 2 matches during the match against Dominican Rep. by 3-2 and the most important ko match to China by 3-1. Both winners show the amazing over-net-power although weak points are clear also.
    China performed with the heavy pressure over the net tonite by Zhu Ting and Yuan Xinyue. holding the beginning two sets in hands by TOTAL VOLLEYBALL, which was unexpected and made big trouble to Italy, China shows a slight up and downs in the third, but found the normal pace in the fourth. two-player-passing system applied by Italy is relatively disappointing to some points, on the contrary, China was more confident and purposeful.
    The fourth set was so close and totally breathless to me, china was luckier to take it. if italy made it thrilling tiebreaker, no one can imagine who will win.
    Good luck to my Chinese girls with good performance in the final. :win:

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    Quote from powsoff


    Yes, I've noticed this too. I haven't seen her jumping really high. Might be better as MB?


    No way! She is one of the slowest player I have ever seen, she would be a MB such as Merkulova :whistle:


    Congratulation to China! They showed a solid performance and deserved the victory. Although I was supporting for Italy, I am glad that Chinese youngsters reached such a success. It was a battle between the oldest starting-7 of the tournament against the youngest one (among top teams of course)


    Yuan Xinyue-1996
    Zhu Ting-1994
    Hui Ruoqi and Shan Danna-1991
    Zeng Chunlei and Junjing Yang-1989
    Wei Qiuyue-1988


    This roster can play at least two more OG. I hope early retirement trend of Chinese players won't go on this time. :S

    Last year 3 World Championships Gold Medal for China in Youth, Junior and U23 category.

    If China wins tomorrow, They will write new history.

    unfortunately I couldn`t see both semi finals . but Im happy too see China and USA in final!!! :cheesy:

    Quote from Canter


    btw... these matches have shown that how an important player a setter is for her team.....: Wei and Glass.... when a setter plays good then that makes a big difference....Glass played with relatively good passes whereas Wei played very well despite good serves of Italians....compliments to both setter but especailly to Wei who was bad against Brazil and Dominic :thumbup:

    The Chinese setter was a clear difference today as China has no players capable of attacking on the organized block. Remarkably, in the end of 4th set, China couldn't even attack the transition balls that were just set high by their libero.


    But at the same time, I struggle to understand how Italy was preparing for the game. Chinese middle attack was not just mostly in but it was mostly on the clear net - could the ITA blockers (or their coach) not have figured out that the tempo was all wrong? Furthermore, the "zone" that China played with the MB and the OH - how many of them they managed to hit in? Italy could have won this game, had they started introducing the changes earlier. Also, what was the point in replacing Costagrande for Diouf when Centoni was having an equally bad game? Playing with two receivers, of which one is the main spiker is a weird idea. This hit back in the end of the fourth set when China stopped serving at libero.


    Very impressed by Chinese coach - very good positioning of the players in defense (apart from that line that Del Core was hitting into) and excellent feeling of the game.

    I have no words. Sincerely, I didn't expect it...Italy was playing really good, I wouldn't thought a game like this right now! Congrats to China but so sorry for the girls!

    Quote from samba player

    This competition was too long and tiring. The two teams that played better in the three rounds declined in the fourth round. If the formula was like the last two editions the semifinals would have been Italy vs USA and Brazil vs China without the third round. Just like the beggining of the third round this time. I don't want to say that Italy and Brazil would have won 100%, but still the third round was not necessary.


    I agree: the third round was just too much. And I would have said that even if Italy would have won tonight! As soon as I knew the formula, before the men WCH I thought that it was useless!

    Also today Italy totalised ten aces. Very impressive, considering Italy was in the last years one of the weakest serving team among top teams (except Bosetti Lucia, Barazza and Aguero). Bonitta did a great job, because every player is serving very well now. In fact serve was one of the key factors for Italians in this championship. In almost every match they scored from 5 to 10 aces.

    Quote from Diesse14


    I agree: the third round was just too much. And I would have said that even if Italy would have won tonight! As soon as I knew the formula, before the men WCH I thought that it was useless!


    AGREE PARTIALLY...
    the 3rd round introduces the unexpected and the excitement. as mens games in Poland, none believes that Russia out of Top 4.
    the Groups in the 3rd round did help China, who was struggling to survive against DOM.
    however, will italy 100% for sure win over USA in a kick-off game ?
    The semifinals are really equal to both teams....games are not drama...the results shall not be copied blindly...

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    I give you the numbers of Italian aces, because are impressive and resemble Cuba in her old days. Only, Cuban aces were much more spectacular, for they jump served.


    6 against Croatia
    10 against Germany
    9 against Dominican Republic
    9 against Azerbaijan
    5 against Belgium
    6 against Japan
    8 against China (first match)
    8 against Russia
    10 against China (second match)

    Quote from pappi

    AGREE PARTIALLY...
    the 3rd round introduces the unexpected and the excitement. as mens games in Poland, none believes that Russia out of Top 4.
    the Groups in the 3rd round did help China, who was struggling to survive against DOM.
    however, will italy 100% for sure win over USA in a kick-off game ?
    The semifinals are really equal to both teams....games are not drama...the results shall not be copied blindly...

    Not sure, because Italy suffered the pressure more in kick-off games, while fared better in all-around competitions like World Cup


    very convincing figures...seems China was the biggest one sufferring from Italy's serves

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    Quote from powsoff

    The Chinese setter was a clear difference today as China has no players capable of attacking on the organized block. Remarkably, in the end of 4th set, China couldn't even attack the transition balls that were just set high by their libero.


    But at the same time, I struggle to understand how Italy was preparing for the game. Chinese middle attack was not just mostly in but it was mostly on the clear net - could the ITA blockers (or their coach) not have figured out that the tempo was all wrong? Furthermore, the "zone" that China played with the MB and the OH - how many of them they managed to hit in? Italy could have won this game, had they started introducing the changes earlier. Also, what was the point in replacing Costagrande for Diouf when Centoni was having an equally bad game? Playing with two receivers, of which one is the main spiker is a weird idea. This hit back in the end of the fourth set when China stopped serving at libero.


    Very impressed by Chinese coach - very good positioning of the players in defense (apart from that line that Del Core was hitting into) and excellent feeling of the game.

    Quote from powsoff

    as China has no players capable of attacking on the organized block

    Indeed, setter is the key difference. But another difference is Zhu Ting who can hit transition balls quite effectively.

    Very nice stats. The figure for Japan is very convincing, as they are the best receiving team. But still many credits should go to the new Mikasa ball though...

    New World Ranking has changed a lot due to the 2 semifinals (new WCh scores according to Men's although No.5-6 score is different and unknown):


    No.1 USA 335-345 going back to No.1 again
    No.2 BRA 300-310
    No.3 CHN 276-286 surpassing Japan and Italy
    No.4 JPN 271
    No.5 ITA 258-268
    No.6 DOM 183 surpassing Russia, Korea, Serbia and Germany (assuming No.5 score is 60, while Men's No.5 is 62, Men's No.6 is 56)
    No.7 RUS 182
    No.8 SRB 150
    No.9 KOR 141 dropping due to no participation in WCh (sorry I forgot to add qualification scores)
    No.9 GER 139
    No.11 TUR 120
    No.12 THA 87
    No.13 BEL 82 rising high (sorry that's Belgium not Bulgaria)
    ......

    Quote from fife

    Very nice stats. The figure for Japan is very convincing, as they are the best receiving team. But still many credits should go to the new Mikasa ball though...


    Mikasa ball benefits Japan indeed, as women's reception level drops so much while Japan still keeps good reception ability :whistle: And Mikasa is also good for float serve than jump serve, which also increase Japan's serving ability. Anyway technology do make a difference.