Venezuela beat China 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 26-28, 25-21) - duration 1:39
04-Aug, start time: 19:50, end time: 21:29 - Attendance: 3,300 Venezuela achieves its first victory in the last opportunity
The Venezuelan volleyball team achieved finally its first victory in this XIII edition of World League after beating China 3 sets to 1 in the Cabimas Dome. Venezuela showed from the first set that did not want to leave this competition winless. The blocking accuracy which was one of the weak aspects in Friday's match, was huge. Andres Manzanillo and Ronald Mendez were walls in front of the Asian attacking, this gave Venezuela an easy 25-20 first set result. In the second set, the Venezuelan star, Ernardo "Harry" Gomez was as effective as always, breaking the Chinese defense for an easier 25-18 result. In the third set, China did not want to give away the match easily and jumped to the court more ordered and focused. This caused the most equilibrated and disputed set, any team could win. Once again Venezuela lost concentration in the important points and gave the third set 26-28. In the fourth and last set, Andres Manzanillo, who was one of the most valuable players along with "Harry" in Venezuela, inspired his teammates with several blocking and attacking from the center, this added to Ernardo "Harry" Gomez offense were the last ditch effort for the first victory by Venezuela overall as a host in the world league. This works to recompense the support by the people in Cabimas. In this way, China and Venezuela finished their participation in this XIII edition of World League and start preparing for the World Championship to be hosted in Argentina next September 28th.
