18-Nov, start time: 12:30, end time: 14:12 - Attendance: 800

USA	3	23	25	25	25	-	98
CHN	1	25	20	20	19	-	84

Match Description:

USA make it two from three
USA recorded their second win from three matches as they fought back from one set down to beat China in four sets in the first match of day three in this Olympic qualifying event in the Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo on Tuesday.

It was a great example of spirit and determination from the US, who played without captain Lloy Ball, as they turned around a disappointing first set to out class China with precision Volleyball in the remaining three.

China had the better of the opening exchanges with Miao Tang inparticular, proving extremely potent with some great angled spiking while Xiaodong Zhang backed him up with crucial blocks. Once China had opened up a 16-13 lead USA couldn't peg back the deficit and China sealed the first set 25-23.

But it was USA's turn to take the early two-point lead in the second set as they executed their spikes a lot better while the attempted blocks from Zhang didn't fall the right way. MIP Gabriel Gardner, Clayton Stanley, Thomas Hoff and company began finding the spaces with their attacks and improved their block remarkably while Chinese captain Hairong Shi's final spike of the set over the back line summed up China's performance as they made too many mistakes.

A power serve from Stanley gave USA an 8-6 lead in the third and this was just the kick start they needed to open up an 18-13 lead before taking the set courtesy of another uncontested Gardner smash before the fourth set continued in much the same vein. At 13-11 to USA, three successive blocks from Stanley, Gardner and Millar was just the tonic to give the Americans a 16-11 lead and eventually the set and match.

Comments:

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF