International Volleyball

ZHU HELPS SCANDICCI CLIMB UP ITALIAN STANDINGS

ZHU HELPS SCANDICCI CLIMB UP ITALIAN STANDINGS

The Chinese star finds her rhythm after a season out for surgery

There are plenty of big stars competing in Italy’s Lega Pallavolo Serie A1 Femminile, but this season Rio 2016 Olympic champion and MVP Zhu Ting is certainly one of the biggest. In her very first season in Italy, the 28-year-old Chinese standout is already making a difference. Led by the 1.98m-tall outside hitter, her team Savino Del Bene Scandicci have now climbed to the second place in the current standings, awaiting their next big challenge in the league, an away game at Volley Bergamo 1991 on Sunday, December 18, at 17:00 local time (16:00 UTC).

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Having recovered from surgery on her wrist that kept her out of the entire 2021-2022 season, Zhu joined her new club and debuted on the court as a substitute player in a fourth-leg home fixture against Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore. She contributed six points towards a straight-set victory, including the match winner, a great bounce-back from the defeat at the hands of Igor Gorgonzola Novara in their previous game.

https://youtu.be/lyB5pRvuYes

In Scandicci’s next game, Zhu was among the starters for the first time and delivered the match high of 16 points towards a 3-1 win at Wash4Green Pinerolo. Since the Chinese outside started playing for the team in early November, Savino Del Bene have lost only two of their eight A1 matches, both after tight five-set battles, and have gradually made it up to the second place in the table, on 26 points and an 8-3 win-loss record.

Defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano are the only team still above Scandicci in the standings, but Scandicci are the only team to have beaten Imoco so far this season. And what a win it was! On December 4, Savino Del Bene swept their hosts in straight sets, as Zhu led the way with her best performance for the team yet. All for the first time as a Scandicci player, she reached the 20+ point mark in scoring, hammered an average of seven points per set, scored three kill blocks, scored directly from the serving line, and was above 50% in perfect receptions.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl0GDtOsyTl/

Zhu Ting was 13 years old when she was selected to join the Henan Province sports school team in 2008 and started her competitive volleyball career. A couple of years later, she started her journey through the Chinese youth and junior national teams. Soon she collected her first international…

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