On the afternoon of June 8, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team faced Indonesia. This is also the most difficult match for coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet's team since the beginning of the tournament.
After two relatively easy victories against lower-rated opponents, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team entered the confrontation with Indonesia with the strongest squad, in which Tran Thi Thanh Thuy was put on the main lineup for the first time right from the beginning of the match.
However, the start did not go as expected. The first-footed defense continuously made mistakes, while Indonesia showed clear progress in both defense and attacking organization. The island nation unexpectedly won 25-18 in the opening set, thereby ending Vietnam's absolute set win streak from the beginning of the tournament.
Pushed into a difficult position, the Vietnamese girls gradually regained their focus in the next two sets. Coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet's personnel adjustments were effective when Nguyen Uyen came on to replace Doan Xuan in the opposite hitter position, while Le Nhu Anh brought many breakthroughs with sharp backward attacks.
Besides, the middle blockers continued to be the effective scoring spearhead of the team. Vietnam won 25-22 and 25-18 respectively to take a 2-1 lead.
It seemed that the game was completely in the hands of the defending champion, but Indonesia once again showed admirable tenacity. They maintained a tight defense system, continuously neutralizing the attacks of Thanh Thuy and her teammates.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team lost stability, especially in the first pass and organization of the game. The fourth set closed with a 25-19 victory for Indonesia, putting the match into the decisive set.
At the most important moment, the bravery of the defending AVC Cup champion was shown at the right time. Thanh Thuy and her teammates played more solidly, taking advantage of counter-attack opportunities to create a safe gap against the opponent. After more than two hours of intense competition, the Vietnamese women's team closed the match with a 3-2 overall victory.
Despite winning, this match also showed the problems that the team needs to improve, especially the first step when making quite a few mistakes under pressure from the opponent. Conversely, the middle blockers still maintained impressive scoring efficiency.
