Vietnam U21 team lost the opening match of the VTV Cup 2025 Volleyball Tournament

Despite playing well at times, the initial weakness became the reason why the U21 Vietnam team lost to Chinese Taipei on the opening day of the VTV Cup 2025 Women's Volleyball Tournament, which took place on the afternoon of June 28.

With 12 points, Dang Thi Hong (number 12) was the best scorer of the match - Photo: QUANG MINH

After a long period of training, the Vietnam U21 women's team had their first official match in 2025 at the VTV Cup. The challenge immediately came to coach Nguyen Trong Linh and his students when their opponent was Chinese Taipei, a team with good level in the region.

Having just won 3rd place in the AVC Nations Cup 2025 3 weeks ago in Hanoi, Chinese Taipei did not take much time to get used to the weather conditions and Vinh Phuc stadium where many athletes competed in the AVC Champions League 2023.

The girls in blue started very quickly and made U21 Vietnam somewhat overwhelmed with their deep serves down the court. The effectiveness of this style of play was immediately brought into play when U21 Vietnam's first step became broken. Committing 8 first-step errors in the first set, the U21 Vietnam team showed signs of nervousness and let their opponents win 25-9.

In the second set, the adjustments of coach Nguyen Trong Linh were effective when U21 Vietnam regained their confidence and played fairly with their opponents. Captain Dang Thi Hong continued to be the one to lift the team's spirit with powerful scoring situations on the 4th sideline and behind the 3m line.

Set 2 saw U21 Vietnam take the lead over their opponents, but a slight loss of concentration caused the young girls to lose the game. From the serve of Chang Yi-Chi, U21 Vietnam continuously made mistakes in the first step and lost 21-25.

Set 3 had a similar scenario as the tug-of-war ended at the end of the set, with Chinese Taipei's mettle clearly demonstrated through tenacious defense and ending the match after 3 sets with scores of 25-9, 25-21 and 25-20.

Making many mistakes in the first step, the U21 Vietnam team accepted defeat on the opening day - Photo: QUANG MINH

Captain of the Vietnam U21 team Dang Thi Hong was the best scorer of the match with 12 goals, Bich Hue scored 7 points and Anh Thao brought home 5 points.

The U21 Vietnam team will enter the next match against Est Cola (U21 Thailand) at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, June 29. This is an important match for the competition for the 3rd place ticket of Group B.

QUANG MINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doi-tuyen-u21-viet-nam-that-bai-tran-mo-man-giai-bong-chuyen-vtv-cup-2025-20250628152712056.htm