MATCH INFO

Tokyo, Japan, November 18, 2011 - China came into their World Cup finale needing a win over a tough Germany squad to secure a top three finish in the tournament, and thus an Olympic ticket and they duly did so. Powered by outstanding blocking, China kept Germany’s attack from gaining any momentum, winning in three sets (25-18, 25-18, 25-21), and winning an Olympic ticket in the process by securing third place in the competition.

China won the contest with a balanced effort, as Hui Ruoqi and Xu Yunli posted 11, Wang Yimei notched 10, and Ma Yunwen and Zhang Lei both scored nine. Key for China was its 15 blocks in the match, as both Zhang Lei and Xu Yunli stuffed four each. The only bright spot for Germany on the day was Christiane Fürst who scored 11, and led all blockers with five.

The crowd at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, who cheered hard against Germany when Japan faced them yesterday, was not urging Germany on to keep Japan’s hopes alive. And Fürst started them off on the right foot with three hard drives to jump out 5-2, but China would pull ahead 11-6 on a run of six unanswered that included three errant spikes from Germany and was capped by an ace from Hui. Fürst brough her side back within one with another pair of attacks, but Hui was the difference for China in the set scoring five of her seven in the period late, pushing her side ahead 22-15. Germany was clearly frazzled, as a lofty Zhang Lei dig fell in the middle of miscommunicating German defenders. Yang Junjing would close a surprisingly easy frame on China’s fourth set point, 25-18.

China had difficulty to start the second set however with Fürst putting consecutive stuffs on Wang, and a bad pass letting Germany ahead three. But China’s captain Wei Qiuyue would show great alertness tipping to an open spot when Germany expected her to set, typing it at 9-9. China’s Xu Yunli was blocking well on the wing not allowing Germany’s leading scorer Angelina Grün to get anything going. The set was even until 16-16 when Xu sparked a nine-two run with a great tip at the net followed up with an ace. That took the second set for China, again 25-18.

China’s strong blocking continued to frustrate German attackers in the third, as blocks from Xu, Wei, and then Ma put them way up 10-2 to start. Maren Brinker responded with two drives and a block of her own, but Wang pitched in two more smashes to help her side way out 19-10. Margareta Kozuch and Corina Ssuschke-Voigt brought the Germans all the way back to 24-21, but Xu would end their comeback with a hard spike from the wing.