Although the Chinese city of Tianjin has been twinned with Milan since 1985, Chen's team made no concessions to Vero Volley Milan, defeating them with a clear 3-0 on the second day of the Club World Championship in Hangzhou. Despite their superiority in blocking (10 against 3), 22 errors by Egonu and her teammates proved decisive for the final result.
In the first set, the Chinese team took control from the start, and despite attempts by Danesi and Orro to come back, the symbolic hosts closed it 25:21.
In the second set, Milan initially led with an excellent Egonu, but Tianjin managed to come back and assert their superiority with a 25:22 win.
In the third set, after a hard-fought point-for-point battle, Tianjin managed to prevail in the end, closing with 25:23 and winning the match.
Two players from the Italian team reached double-digit points: Paola Egonu with 22 successful attacks and Nika Daalderop with 10. Numia must quickly put this match behind them and focus on the next encounter. Tomorrow, Thursday, December 19th, at 13:30, Egonu and company will play again to complete the group stage against Zamalek Sporting Club.
"I think tonight we struggled with reception and were not effective enough in attack. At the beginning of the match, especially in the first set, we also played poorly in defense. Nothing worked tonight, but tomorrow we have another match and we can still reach the semifinals," commented Nika Daalderop, analyzing the team's performance. "If we want to become world champions, we have to beat all teams, so we still have chances." For the second match, head coach Lavarini confirmed his choices from the first encounter and started with Orro-Egonu on the diagonal, Sylla-Daalderop as outside hitters, Danesi-Curytagich in the middle, and Fukudome as libero.Radostina Marinova did not enter the game again.
Tianjin Bohai Bank - Vero Volley Milan 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23)

The other Italian team, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, recorded their second convincing victory at the Club World Championship in China, overcoming Vietnam's LP Bank Ninh Binh with a 3:0 (25:16, 25:8, 25:15). In a match played overnight relative to Italian time, the European champions demonstrated complete superiority, even though head coach Santarelli opted for squad rotation. Merrit Adewge was the top scorer with 17 points, followed by Lubian and Lanier with 14 points each. Lubian impressed with 5 blocks and 100% attack efficiency. For the Vietnamese team, Tuyen scored 13 points.
After two victories, Conegliano has already secured a spot in the semifinals. Their next match is on Thursday morning (9:00 AM Bulgarian time) against Japan's Red Rockets Kawasaki, which will determine the first place in the group.

photos:volleyballworld.com