Katowice, Poland, September 9, 2014- Germany started off the second round of the 2014 FIVB Men's World Championship on the right foot after they claimed a straight sets win against China (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) in Pool F at Spodek Hall in Katowice, Poland on Wednesday.
The victory improved Germany's win- loss ratio in Pool F to 3-1 and raised their points to 9 to stay in the third position following Brazil (12) and Russia (11), while China dropped to 0-4 (0 pts).
György Grozer with 17 points led Germany's scorers, while Weijun Zhong was China's top scorer, gaining 10 points.
Germany controlled the game throughout the whole match by their advantage in spiking and building efficient blocks,, while making many mistakes China, weren't able to break the opponent’s power.
Key points
• Other than many Technical factors Germany dominate both blocking (8/3) and serving (8/2) and it was enough for Germany to make a wide difference.
• This is the first match between China and unified Germany and the first victory for the latter in 4 matches. China recorded three straight set wins at the World Championships against teams from Germany: West Germany in 1966 and East Germany in 1978 and 1982.
• China are on a ten-match losing streak at the World Championship against European sides.
• After losing their 2014 opener against Brazil, Germany won their following five matches.
• China have lost their last four World Championship matches in straight sets for the first time since 1986
With fine passing and efficient block displayed by Marcus Böme, Germany started the first set being 3-1 ahead. Due to China’s problems with developing their counter-attacks, Germany increased the leading to three points (5-2). Zhi Yuan tried to help China to catch up before the first technical timeout, but György Grozer’s fine spike put Germany 8-5 ahead. Weijun Zhong’s out spike increased the opponent leading to five points (10-5) and forced China’s coach to call a timeout. Germany controlled the game throughout the rest of the set and despite aggressive serve displayed by Shi Yuan, China didn't manage to come near as Germany led 16-10 at the second technical timeout. Keeping good pass, Germany were able to play fine middle-spikes, what helped them to romped into a 25-19 victory.
China improved at the beginning of the second set and stayed one point behind keeping near Germany (2-1). After aggressive serve displayed by Daoshuai Ji, China managed to catch up at 6-6, but they were Germany who led 8-7 at the first technical timeout, after Max Günthö’s kill. Continuing play on a point-by-point basis, both teams tried to build some comfortable leading and after Grozer’s spikes, Germany run 12-10 ahead. However, it didn't demotivate China, who jumped 13-12 due to Chunlong Liang’s fine block. After that, the scores changed for Germany again (19-15). Then, China tried to catch up - with their aggressive serves by Weijun Shong, they came to 20-19, but Germany didn't flounder their advantage and finished the second set 25-22.
China managed to lead 4-3 leading at the beginning of the third set. Kill displayed by Daoshuai Ji put China 5-6 ahead, but a quick Germany’s answer with a fine spike and an ace played by Lukas Kampa made them leading 8-6 at the first technical timeout. Passing well and adding fine serves by Marcus Böme, Germany jumped 19-12 ahead and kept their leading till the end of the third set 25-17.