Ankara, Turkey, August 18, 2015 – In Tuesday’s second match at 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U23 World Championship in Ankara, China defeated Bulgaria 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19) to move to Wednesday’s classification match for the fifth rank versus Italy. Bulgaria will compete against Thailand for the seventh rank. Like in their previous matches, the Chinese lost the first set to come back strongly in the second part of the match.
Bulgaria’s Silvana Chausheva finished the clash with a match-high of 20 points, including three aces and one block kill. Fang Duan contributed 16 kills for the winners. Bulgaria committed ten errors more than China (29-19).
Bulgaria jumped out for a well-deserved 1-0 set lead against the Asian side. The team of coach Atanas Lazarov put a lot of pressure on the Chinese passers, hindering their opponents to set up their fast offense. Powerful opposite Silvana Chausheva (eight points in the first period!) ended the opening set 25-22 in Bulgaria’s favour.
As usually, China found their rhythm in the beginning of the second set. The Asians developed their offense with better passing and improved attacking. Bulgaria, on the other hand, lost momentum. China finished the second set 25-21.
The Chinese kept the upper hand in the third set. Bulgaria did their utmost to bounce back but eventually couldn’t cope with the speed the Asians displayed. At the second technical timeout, China led 16-13. Lazarov sent in second setter Kristina Guncheva for captain Petya Barakova, but it was already too late. Fang Duan closed it out at 25-20 with a well-timed spike over the Bulgarian blockers.
China kept control in the fourth and last set and never looked back until 25-19.