Terrific Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen hammered a match-high 24 points to steer LPBank Ninh Binh to stunning upset 3-0 win against defending champions Sichuan from China, as Japan’s PFU BlueCats bounced back to beat hosts VTV Binh Dien Long An 3-1 on the opening day of the 14th VTV9-Binh Dien Cup International Women’s Volleyball Tournament at Buon Ma Thuot City in Dak Lak Province, Vietnam on Friday.
After the successfully-organised 13 seasons, initially held in 2006 to 2019 (not held in 2009) and a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 14th edition of the Binh Dien Cup is now underway from May 11 to 19, with eight top local and international volleyball clubs fighting it out for top honor and the shared US$48,700 up for grabs.
The tournament also serves as final tune-up games for U20 Vietnam and U20 Thailand squads in their preparation for the 22nd Asian Women’s U20 Championship, set to take place in Jiangmen, China from July 1 to 8, a qualification tournament for the next year’s FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship.
In Dak Lak, teams were divided into two pools to contest the pool round-robin preliminaries, with top two teams from each pool through to the cross semifinals. Teams finishing 3rd and 4th places in each pool will battle it out in Classification Round for 5th-8th rankings.
Pool A comprised Hoa Chat Duc Giang Lao Cai (Vietnam), VTV Binh Dien Long An (Vietnam), PFU BlueCats (Japan) and U20 Vietnam, with title-holders Sichuan (China), U20 Thailand, BC TT Truong Tuoi Binh Phuoc (Vietnam) and LBBank Ninh Binh (Vietnam) in Pool B.
In the first Pool A match on Friday, Hoa Chat Duc Giang Lao Cai got off to a brilliant start with a comfortable straight-set 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-15) win against U20 Vietnam.
Hard-hitting Kuttika Kaewpin from Thailand’s Diamond Food – Fine Chef VC, scored 10 points for HDG from seven attacks and team-leading 3 aces, while Tran Tu Linh and Ly Thi Luyen kept good company to assist with 9 and 8 points respectively. Outside hitter Dang Thi Hong led U20 Vietnam with 13 points including 12 kills from 35 attempts.
The second encounter in Pool B was more interesting, with China’s Sichuan back in quest to defend their title. However, LPBank Ninh Binh defied against all odds to stun the reigning champions in convincing three-setter.
The first set was tightly-contested, with LBN narrowly edging past the visitors for the hard-fought 26-24 win. In the second and third sets, Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen played a big part…
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