News Volleyball 27/05/2014 China take victory in Montreux against Russia Montreux, Switzerland, May 27, 2014 - Lang Ping’snational team have taken an important opening victory 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 16-25,25-18, 15-9) against Russia’s young team. Even with Russia’s Natalia Malykh’s score of 25points, the Russians were not able to take advantage of this offensive power.China’s Zhu Ting’s scored 19 points for her side during the match. Asia’s top team started with a mix of moreexperienced and young players, whereas Russian national coach Yury Marichevwanted the newcomers to get more experience on the international level.Nevertheless, the match was still played to a very high level.Both teams started with quick offensive games. China,however, played more prudently and as a consequence increased their early leadto 12-6. Russia’s Yury Marichev tried to force a turnaround, but Lang Ping’splayers didn’t give away their advantage, winning the first set 25-22.The game became even tighter in the second set.Both teams fought for every ball and tried to keep the own unforced errorpercentage down as low as possible. However, the Russians maintained their coolin the second set and tied the match with a 25-23 win.The Russian motor was put into high gear, with YuryMarichev’s young players finding their rhythm, scoring kill after kill. SetterEkaterina Kosianenko and her attackers Natalia Malykh as Iuliia Kiutikova tooseemed to be unstoppable in Russia’s offensive game. As a consequence, the goldmedallists at last year’s CEV European Championship won the third set 25-16.The Chinese, however, were not ready to accept anearly defeat against the young Russian team and Lang Ping’s players turned aroundthe match committing less unforced errors. With China putting more pressure on their opponent’s defence, the Russiansstarted to struggle resulting in a high number of unforced errors. China tookadvantage of this to take the fourth set 25-18 forcing the match into a tiebreak.China kept the rhythm of the fourth set to take an importantearly lead in the fifth and decisive set. The Russians were unable to findtheir way back and had to fight against an increasing deficit. Lang Ping’s teamhad even match points taking the final set 15-9.The South East Asians play their second game of the29th Montreux Masters on Wednesday against Olympic Champions Brazil. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News