On May 5, the Chinese women's volleyball team welcomed the first match of the 31 Women's World Volleyball League in Nagoya, Japan. The Chinese women's volleyball team faced the first opponent of the league, the Brazilian women's volleyball team, fought hard for 2023 games, defeating the opponent 5-25, 23-22, 25-25, 20-20 and 25-15, and won the opening of this Women's Volleyball World League.

In the first encounter, the Brazilian women's volleyball team not only played its own speed characteristics of combining high and fast, but also carried out targeted defense against Chinese ace Li Yingying. Although Li Yingying's scoring was limited, players such as Wang Yunbi, Gong Xiangyu, Xu Xiaoting, Zheng Yixin and others stepped forward to help the team tide over the difficulties. The Chinese women's volleyball team used the first victory of the World Women's Volleyball League to prove that everyone's sweat in the previous closed training was not in vain.

rival

The most familiar team is the most targeted in attack and defense

The Brazilian women's volleyball team and the Chinese women's volleyball team are very familiar old rivals, and the peak showdown between the two teams at the Rio Olympics has been talked about by fans of both countries to this day. When the two most familiar teams met in the first game, a most targeted offensive and defensive battle was naturally staged. In the last Women's World Volleyball League and World Championships, the Brazilian women's volleyball team won the runner-up, proving the strength and stability of this women's volleyball team. In the first leg of this league, the Brazilian women's volleyball team was dominated by young players, with veterans Marcres and Carroll pressing, and main players such as Gabi, Taisa, Rosamalia, Puri D'Aloyt, and Robetta absent. The Chinese women's volleyball team continued the main framework of previous seasons. How to make targeted deployments for this squad, both managers know very well.

In this match, the starting lineup sent by Cai Bin, the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team, included Li Yingying and Wang Yunbi; deputy attack Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan; Pick up Gong Xiangyu; Second setter Diao Linyu and free man Wang Mengjie. The Chinese women's volleyball team played an excellent role in the first game of attack and passing, and achieved the score advantage through the improvement of offensive efficiency, while the Brazilian women's volleyball team made more mistakes, and the Chinese team won the first set 25-23.

Since then, with the targeted deployment of Li Yingying and Diao Linyu by the Brazilian women's volleyball team, the mistakes of the Chinese women's volleyball team have begun to increase. In the fourth game, the Brazilian women's volleyball team dragged the match into a tiebreaker 25-20.

The tiebreaker is destined to become a famous scene in the history of the battle between the two sides. Brazil once hoped to drown China with extreme attacks, and Wang Yunbi's two key serves broke the Brazil's one-pass system. From 10-12 to 15-12, the Chinese team scored five consecutive points to win the game. In this multi-dimensional confrontation between spear and shield, the Chinese women's volleyball team had the last laugh.

Winning

Five points for losing 10 kilograms

After the Chinese women's volleyball team won five games, many volleyball fans shouted surprise. Wang Yunbi's last-minute outbreak helped the team win the tiebreaker with 5 consecutive points, becoming a famous scene in this year's Women's Volleyball World League. Wang Yunbi, who performed well at the Women's Volleyball World Championship last year, has made great progress in this closed training. Wang Yunbi said with a smile that the progress he can see is to lose ten kilograms. During the training period, Wang Yunwei, who lost a lot of weight, has significantly improved his bouncing and smashing, and his defensive ability has improved significantly. It can be said that the last 5 points of this game are the ten kilograms lost by Wang Yunbi.

Since Zhu Ting has not returned, this year's Chinese team can be called low-key. The Chinese women's volleyball team is almost transparent in the main attack point, and the opponent only needs to contain Li Yingying's offensive to cut off half of the Chinese team's offensive routine. At the critical moment, Wang Yunbi and other players stood up to break the game for the Chinese women's volleyball team.

In the new women's volleyball team, Cai Bin leaves little room for imagination from the outside world. The 23-man squad is basically the main framework lineup, and Cai Bin hopes that by tempering this mature large lineup, Li Yingying will have a more reliable main attack diagonal partner, so that the fast attack system of the Chinese women's volleyball team can operate more smoothly.

Looking back on the training results, Wang Yunbi said that he has made great progress in strength and physical fitness, and his technology has also brought corresponding improvements. In this match against the Brazilian women's volleyball team, Wang Yunbi took on the heavy responsibility of passing and defense in the opening stage. With Li Yingying and other fire points blocked by the opponent three to see death, Wang Yunwei's fire point suddenly broke out, which became the key to winning this game. In last year's Women's Volleyball World Championship, Wang Yunbi stepped forward at a critical moment to save the team. This time, in addition to being good at protecting the first pass and defense, she also showed her ability to score on key points.

expect

More newcomers need to step up

The World Women's Volleyball League is an opportunity to showcase all women's volleyball teams, and for the Chinese women's volleyball team, it is necessary to show the training results of the recent closed training. Compared with other national teams, the closed training period of the Chinese team is longer, and whether Zhonghui, Zheng Yixin, Xu Xiaoting, etc., who were selected into the team, have the opportunity to show themselves has become the focus of attention from the outside world.

In the first game, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Brazilian women's volleyball team in five games, which also exposed the problem of the firepower point being watched to death by the opponent. After Coach Cai Bin took office, the lineup of the Women's World Volleyball League has not changed much from the previous Women's Volleyball World Championship lineup. If you want the Chinese women's volleyball team to shine with new firepower points and come up with new tactical routines, we also need more newcomers to come on the field and stand up.

In this game, in addition to Wang Yunbi's outbreak in the previous Women's Volleyball World Championship, setter Xu Xiaoting, receiver Zheng Yixin and others all came on the field to feel the atmosphere. Du Qingqing's serve, Zheng Yixin's score in front of the net, and Xu Xiaoting's light pass are all eye-catching. After the meritorious setter Ding Xia did not win the current national team, it is worth looking forward to whether the Chinese women's volleyball team can come up with more effective tactical routines in the next World Women's Volleyball League matches.

Text/Reporter Chu Peng Coordinator/Du Rui

Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency Chinese women's volleyball Weibo