China libero Mengjie Wang passed well in her team's 3-0 win over Japan
Omaha, USA, July 23, 2015 – China recovered from their opening day loss yesterday to defeat continental rival Japan 25-20, 25-19, 25-12 on Thursday in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
China’s Yanhan Liu scored a match-high 19 points and Changning Zhang and Yixin Zheng added 12 points. Japan’s Sarina Koga produced 11 points in the loss. China out-blocked Japan 11-1 as their service game held a 6-2 advantage.
Japan built an early 5-1 lead in the opening set leading to a China timeout. Out of the break, China came back strong to level the set at 7-all and pushed ahead 13-9 on a 7-2 run. Japan answered with three straight points, but China pulled away late as Wang Na put down a winner for a 21-17 lead and finished with a 25-20 victory.
The second set was close until China scored a 5-1 run taking an 18-13 advantage. Japan answered with a 3-0 run before Yixin Zheng hit a winner for China at 19-16. Japan knotted the score at 19-all after consecutive China attack errors. Two blocks by China, a Yanhan Liu kill and Zheng ace yielded them a 24-19 advantage. Wang ended the set at 25-19 with an overpass kill capping a 6-0 run.
Changning Zhang served two aces around a Yanhan Liu hit a cross-court winner pushing China in front 10-3 in the third set. China continued their pressure by going up 15-4, taking advantage of several Japan errors. China ended the match comfortably with a 25-12 victory.