Kunshan, China, June 16, 2017 -
Paul Carroll scored a match high 27 points contributing to
Australia's victory 3-2 (29-27, 18-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-9) over Japan.
Luke Smith added 22 points to the winning side profit while
Japan were led by
Haku Ri and
Issei Otake who scored a team high of 16 points each.
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Australia built up a small advantage of three points in the beginning of set one and managed to carry it over until Japna struck back to level up at 18. Both teams were dropping points and the outcome was anyone's guess. Finally Australia kept their nerve and closed the set at 29-27 with a triple block.
In set two Japan took an early lead and put much more pressure on the Australia players. With the score at 23-18, confidence was high allowing Japan to take the set at 25-18.
The momentum that Japan got at set two helped them race into an early lead in the 3rd set. With the score 24-21 Japan were just one point away from the victory but their three unforced errors tied the score at 24. The two next points went, however, to Japan's tally who took the set at 26-24.
In set four Australia took full control from the beginning racing quickly ahead 14-8. They managed to keep their momentum until the final point at 25-21.
The tiebreaker was again in Australia's control as Mark Lebedew's team took it at 15-9.
Matches on Saturday
