Lonneke deflected five attacks in their victory over China in the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals
Bangkok, Thailand, July 7, 2016 – The Netherlands fought hard to claim a 3-2 (23-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-20, 15-8) win over China to keep their semifinal hopes alive at the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals at Indoor Stadium Huamark on Thursday.
Lonneke Sloetjes was sharp on offence and defence as logged 25 spikes, five blocks and an ace. Gong Xianyu top scored for China with 21 points for China.
The Europeans recovered from their straight-set loss to the USA on July 6, but had to work harder against China to produce a victory against the Asian side.
Yuan Xinyue and Liu Xiaotong led China in the first set, as they nicked valuable points on combination plays. China took the first set 25-23. The Netherlands bounced back in the second set as their defence strengthened, which forced China to struggle on the attack. They wrapped up the second set 25-14.
China regained their composure in the third set, as Hui Ruoqi and Zhang Xiaoya capitalised on their quickness on the attack. China took the third set 25-19. In the fourth set, Sloetjes spearheaded the Dutch comeback with an outstanding performance from the attack line that forced the tie-breaker at 25-20.
The Netherlands fared much better in the deciding set, as China continued to struggle. The Asians could no longer post a comeback and conceded the set to the Netherlands 15-8.
