AVC Women’s U23 Championship/Taipei Demolished to Advance to the Semifinal

In-form Chinese Taipei demolished Iran in comfortable straight sets to advance to the semi-finals of the SMM 2nd Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship at The Mall Nakhon Ratchasima’s MCC Hall on Friday.

The scintillating 25-14 25-14 25-18 victory over the Iranians in the Friday’s quarter-finals has earned Chinese Taipei a ticket to the semi-finals, where they are due to go up against indomitable Japan, the only team which have yet lost a set to their respective rivals. As Chinese Taipei will contest a do-or-die battle against Japan, Iran have already been relegated to the 5th-8th classification round.

Pi Wen-Yuan collected 10 points for Chinese Taipei, all of them from devastating spikes. Chen Tzu-Ya contributed with 10 kills. Mona Ashofteh scored 11 points for Iran.

“Today, Iran did not play well, I think, while my players did a good job. However, we will have a tough match in the semi-finals against Japan. I hope my players can cope well with the Japanese tactics, especially their fast game. Actually, both Japan and Chinese Taipei have almost the similar standard, but on court, the Japanese players always come up with better form. I know that our chance of beating the Japanese is possible, but we have to improve on our attacks to match their solid defence,” Chinese Taipei’s head coach Lin Ming-Hui commented after the match.