Tianjin tour and a warm welcome
Day 10
Monday, 17 March
Tianjin, a city of more than 10 million, was a 1.5 hour bus ride from our accommodation. The (relatively) smaller city offered great shopping and the chance for the female volleyball-playing members of our group to have a game against Nankai University. The men were scheduled to play nearby Tianjin Polytechnic.
Our tour of the European-influenced city started in Culture St, a haven for cheap antiques, calligraphy, handcrafts and toys.
The group then moved on to Nankai University, whose women’s team was excited at our invitation to visit Australia for a tour of their own.
The men’s team had a warm-up set against the Nankai women, who displayed some serious power to complement their imposing height.
Following the warm-up, the Uni Blues headed off to Tianjin Polytechnic, where we received the best welcome of the whole tour. Tianjin representatives had created a banner welcoming us to the university and players formed a guard of honour to cheer us into the volleyball stadium. Uni Blues players, already feeling like celebrities, were greeted by a large enthusiastic crowd who packed the stadium and cheered for every hard-fought point.
Tianjin’s top team is currently placed 11th in China and though the Blues were faced the uni’s second-grade team, the height and speed of the opposition was no less imposing.
MATCH REPORT
Tianjin 3 Uni Blues 2
The earlier warm-up against Nankai had the Blues in the right frame of mind early in the first set. Chris Lyne and Paul Deweerd were solid in defence and Nick Lemalu continued his good form, saving two big points in a row. Tianjin ran some impressive combinations but seemed surprised by the Australians’ ability to return their cross-court hits. The Blues took the tough first set 25-20.
Experienced setter Chris Giacomi laid some good groundwork for the Blues in the second and captain Gavin Penny subbed on to begin one of his best games of the tour. The Blues suffered a setback with libero Jono Cannon landing awkwardly on his right ankle and being subbed off to recover from the recurring injury. Tianjin exploited the break in the Blues’ concentration to surge ahead and take the set 25-18.
Sloppy play at the start of the third set allowed Tianjin some easy points before the Blues steadied with superb hits by Kyle Griffith, Chris O’Keefe and Chris Lyne. The opposition used time-outs effectively to change the pace of the game and make line-up changes to account for the Blues’ blocking strength. The Blues took their third set to make for an exciting climax.
Tianjin steadied in the fourth and began to tear through the Blues’ defence with devastating hits. Paul Grimmett was among the Blues’ best in the set, saving some big hits but the youthful agility of the opposition began to wear the away team down. Tianjin cleaned up the set 25-14.
The Blues returned first in the final set, Matt Campbell and Aaron Krahe combining well and blocking some potentially-damaging hits. The Blues stayed with the opposition the entire set, though some poor umpiring decisions stopped them from taking a lead twice in the set. Tianjin held on to take the final set 15-14.
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