China women's volleyball team should be more clinical, says coach Cai

HONG KONG, June 19 (Xinhua) -- China women's volleyball head coach Cai Bin told Xinhua on Monday that his team need to be more clinical, after China concluded the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in Hong Kong with two wins and two defeats.

China capped off their first week of VNL in Nagoya, Japan with four wins on the bounce and extended that winning streak in the first two matches at Hong Kong Coliseum, before suffering back-to-back defeats against Poland and Italy.

"We played as a collective, but the defeats exposed our weakness in seizing the key points. We had chances in the two matches, but were not decisive enough, so we need to strengthen our defensive play," Cai noted.

China might have claimed victory against Italy, but twice fumbled the lead, allowing their opponents to complete the turnaround.

"That also indicated that we lack maturity. We did a good job in Nagoya, but we had ups and downs here," Cai said.

Cai revealed that China will stay in Hong Kong for a few more days before the third week of VNL in Suwon, South Korea.

"We were just set up last year, so in the future we need to stabilize the frame and realize the potential of the substitutes, and improve our teamwork to avoid mistakes."

The third week of VNL takes places from June 28 to July 2 as China take on Serbia, the Dominican Republic, South Korea and the United States.