Trieste, Italy, October 2, 2014 – China beat Croatia 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) in the second round of Pool E at the 2014 FIVB World Championship at PalaTrieste on Thursday.
Key Facts
- China have won four out of five encounters against Croatia at major tournaments, including the last three.
- China have lost only two sets at this World Championship, fewest of all nations. United States follow with three sets conceded.
- China have won seven straight World Championship matches.
- Top scorers were China’s Ruoqi Hui with 15 and Yunli Xu with 14 points. On the other side double digits were achieved by Senna Usic (11) and Samanta Fabris (10).
In the first set Senna Usic’s spike and block kills scored the first two points for Croatia. China’s Chunlei Zeng equalized and soon the Asians were leading. The play got tough. Four torpedo spikes from Ruoqi Hui confirmed the Chinese lead 8-4. The advantage was never seriously challenged throughout the set, in spite of some nice shots from the Croats. However, the Chinese block was a killer. China overwhelmed Croatia 25-12.
The start of set two was a one-sided affair again. China jumped to a 7-0 lead. Then Samanta Fabris spike-killed and aced for Croatia, bringing some disarray to the Chinese, who nevertheless soon found their pulse again. Their nice fights over the net, the quick serves, mighty spikes and unbreakable blocks won loud appreciation from the numerous Chinese spectators in PalaTrieste, counting 3,200 watchers all together. Chunlei Zeng scored the last two tallies and wrote down the 25-15 set result.
China, led by volleyball legend Ping Lang, had no difficulty winning set three as well. Croatia’s defense was in tatters. Their first point arrived again at 7-0, but it was a short-lived happiness. Soon China was leading 12-4. Samanta Fabris got few chances to shoot her kills. Croatia did show some determined playing, keeping up the ball for long rallies. China was technically a class apart from them and romped into victory 25-14.