Club World Cup, bitter birthday for Paola Egonu: Milan overwhelmed by Tianjin
Tianjin Bohai-Vero Volleyball Milan 3-0
Numia Vero Volleyball Milan failed to find its second consecutive success at the World Club Championship in China. After a clear victory against Gerdau Minas, the Consortium’s women’s first team è surrendered in three sets (25-21; 25-22; 25-23) to the hosts Tianjin Bohai Bank.
Opening the match, on her 26th birthday, è Paola Egonu, but the hosts started better and immediately flew away in the score on 9-5. Tianjin, at that point, è deftly crushed every attempt of the opponents’ comeback, maintaining the lead until the end, winning the first set 25-21.
In the second set, however, it was the meneghine who placed the first stretch thanks to the plays of the celebrated Paola Egonu (23 total points for her) and Nika Daalderop on 16-13. The hosts, however, did not give up and grabbed parity on 20-20. In the closing stages, then, it was still the Chinese who were more cynical and won the set on 25-22.
In the third set once again è Tianjin came out of the blocks better: somehow Milan managed to get back in touch (from -4) and even to put their noses ahead, but in the final point-to-point it was always the Chinese who came out on top. On the first match point, in fact, the Asians took advantage of a free ball on a bad reception by Daalderop and closed the score on 25-23.
The Group A standings now see Tianjin leading with two wins (six points, 6-0 set count) ahead of Milan and Gerdau Minas (both with one win, three points, 3-3 set balance). The’last day will therefore be decisive: the Lombards will return to the court on Thursday, Dec. 19 (12:30 p.m.) to face the unranked Egyptians of Zamalek, while the direct clash between the Chinese and the Braziliansè scheduled for Friday, Dec. 20 at 12:30 p.m.
The chances of qualifying for first place would be slim for Milan, which will have to win the last challenge of the group stage to be sure of qualifying as second and face in the semifinals in an all-Blue derby Conegliano, which has mortgaged the primacy in Group B thanks to the peremptory 3-0 imparted to the Vietnamese of the LP Bank Ninh Bihn.
