The Asians topped hosts Mexico to advance and will now play undefeated Italy – China and Brazil will meet on the other side of the bracket
Credit: volleyballworld.com
Japanese players celebrate their critical victory against Mexico
Japan will complete the lineup of the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship semifinals as the Asian giants secured the fourth and last spot in play on the next round of the tournament on Wednesday in Leon, Mexico.
The second-best team in Pool E, the Japanese will face Italy, the top side in Pool F, in the semifinals on Friday. On the same day, Pool E winners China will battle Pool F runners-up Brazil for the second spot in the gold medal match.
The tournament is streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.
In order to take the last spot in the semifinals, Japan had to beat hosts Mexico in their third Pool E match in order to surpass Serbia and finish in second place. The Asians dropped a set, but accomplished their goal, producing a 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 24-26, 25-21) victory over the home team to get to two wins and advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av7Jx9SVYk8
Outside hitters Ayane Kitamado and Megumi Fukazawa led the Japanese offense against the Mexicans, delivering 18 points each. The home team relied a lot on opposite Andrea Felix, who produced 15 points.
“We had some difficulties in terms of starting sets well, so we had to play one point at a time,” said setter Saki Iwamoto. “Luckily it worked out for us, but it wasn’t easy for us to win. The coach made some changes on the team and our strategy was to use our opposite more often and that helped us win.”
Serbia, who depended on a victory over China to advance regardless of the outcome of the match between Japanese and Mexicans, didn’t get the result they needed, but went down fighting, pushing the pool winners to five sets before falling 3-2 (19-25, 25-18, 25-11, 25-27, 15-12).
Chinese and Serbians battled during five sets in Leon
Chinese captain Yushan Zhuang was on fire again as the 20-year-old outside hitter produced 19 points (14 kills, four aces, one block) for her team. On the Serbian side, outside hitter Una Vajagic was the most effective player, with 17 points (14 kills, one ace, two blocks).
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