Club World Cup, Conegliano grants encore performance
Club World Cup, results
It is back to the court in the middle of the Italian night for the second match of the Club World Cup being played in Hangzhou, China, amid feverish excitement over the highly anticipated return of Panther Zhu Ting, the home idol. With the favor of the Chinese public, Prosecco DOC Imoco Conegliano, invited to the tournament as the European Champion, knocked out after the Brazilians of Dentil Praia also the Vietnamese of the LP Bank Ninh Binh, easily put under by the Panthers today in version-turnover.
Prosecco DOC Imoco’s sextet with Seki-Adiwge, Chirichella-Lubian, Lukasik-Lanier, libero Bardaro, while Ninh’s vice-champions of Asia start with Hoai-Thien, Thuy-Trinh, Warisara-Hong, libero Kim Lien.
The first set glides along smoothly like oil, just a few points and Seki’s game gushes fluidly from the hands of the Japanese to the forwards, with a painstaking distribution that eventually sees 6 points from an always excellent Merit Adiwge, who also amazes at the World Cup as well as in her Italian and European debuts, 5 for an’effervescent and profitable Marina Lubian (2 walls and 100% in attack) and 4 each for Chirichella, Lanier (100% also for the USA setter) and Lukasik. As soon as the serve gets heavier the Vietnamese struggled to contain the speed of the ball, the rest was done by the wall and a counterattack that always or almost always scored on the Bardaro-Seki axis. The second lines of Prosecco DOC Imoco do not make the starters regret, they take the lead on 12-8, then the final push with Lukasik, attack and ace for 18-12, the closing è all of Khalia Lanier and Merit Adiwge for 25-16.
In the third set, the technical and physical gap between the two teams is even more evident. Ninh Binh tries with the fast patterns typical of the Eastern game, but the results are easy to read for the Gialloblù wall, with Marina Lubian (3 “blocks” in the set, unleashed also in the serve) and Cristina Chirichella feasting under the net at their pleasure. The harvest of aces also continued for the Panthers who pushed on every possession, putting concentration and order despite the relative resistance of the Vietnamese.
After making things clear already at the beginning of the set, in the middle part Khalia Lanier on offense and Nanami Seki who feels the air of the Orient and places three aces almost in a row go wild. It becomes a gialloblù monologue, merciless 25-8 marking an abysmal gap between the two formations, with baby Adiwge still impeccable top scorer with 6 points on the score sheet. Choruses for the Panthers can also be heard echoing from China thanks to four brave Prosecco DOC Imoco fans who did not want to miss the’event.
In the third set space also for Katja Eckl who gives Chirichella breath, Lubian starts strong again along with Adiwge, but Ninh Minh with Tuyen holds her own in the early stages (5-5). There’è also the lead (7-8) for the Asian team, which però wakes the sleeping dog, in this case the panther, and suffers the overwhelming wave of the Prosecco DOC Imoco that returns to its furious pace and melts the opponent resistance.
Eckl seals the 14-9, then between an ace from an overflowing Lubian (14 points, 5 walls, 100% in attack) and a missile from the trio Adiwge, Lanier (14 points, 2 walls and 3 aces!) and Lukasik the lead takes on still abysmal proportions. Nanami Seki still collects a few more aces (4 in total!) and has fun thanks to the excellent understanding with an always reliable Merit Adiwge (17 points, top scorer of the match) who seals the easy 25-15 that closes hostilities. After two days of competition Prosecco DOC Imoco.
After the first two clear victories, the round will continue after a rest day already on Thursday at 8:00 a.m. Italian time for the last match of the round against the Japanese Red Rockets Kawasaki, who had won 3-0 with Ninh Binh yesterday, a match that will decide the first place in the pool. In fact, with tonight’s victory, Prosecco DOC Imoco è already qualified for Saturday’s semifinal between the top two in the group.
