With the seven best-ranked national teams from the Preliminary Phase and hosts Poland, which are currently in second place, making it to the Finals, three of the six teams that will play in Arlington are inside the qualification zone – China, which are sixth with five victories (15 points), Germany, which rank seventh, with four victories (14), and hosts the United States, which appear in eighth place, also with four victories (11).
The Dominican Republic, another national team that will compete in Texas, are not far behind, ranking tenth, with four victories and nine points. Canada, which rank 15th, with two victories (six points), and Thailand, which come next at 16th with one victory (five points), still have chances of qualifying, but should also worry about avoiding the bottom of the standings, which would get them relegated in the VNL.
China had their ups and downs in the first week of the VNL, in Beijing, getting two victories. The Asians showed improvement in the second week, in Hong Kong, triumphing in three of their four matches, and got one step closer to qualifying. Young phenom Zhang Zixuan has been one of the standouts in the Chinese campaign as the 16-year-old setter ranks first among the players in her position in the VNL with 236 successful actions. Outside hitter Wu Mengjie is China’s leading scorer with 147 points, while experienced middle blocker Wang Yuanyuan ranks third in the VNL in blocks, with 22.
“Our team has been bringing a lot of energy to every match,” opposite and team captain Gong Xiangyu said. “We’ve been behind on some occasions in the VNL and even when the gap seemed too big, we just kept pushing.”