NEC Red Rockets of Japan celebrate their win at the VTV Cup 2019. Photo vtv.vn

The visiting side came from behind to defeat Vietnam 27-29, 25-17, 25-17, 25-16 in the final match.

A knee injury kept Vietnamese captain Tran Thi Thanh Thuy out of the first set. However, the home side, members of the senior and U23 national teams, played well to take a 16-7 lead.
NEC re-set their team after a time out and scored six points in a row to narrow the gap to 16-15.

Both sides played well to keep it even at 27-27 before Vietnam went ahead and won the set 29-27.

NEC adjusted their style in the second set and easily took the lead while the Vietnamese side grew exhausted because of their five-set semi-final against North Korea on Friday.

NEC won it 25-17, then took the next two sets 25-17 and 26-16 despite Vietnam coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet's best efforts to change the dynamic of the match.

In the third-place playoff, North Korea beat Chinese Fujian 27-25, 25-21, 25-15.

The organisers also presented other awards to teams and players. Australia was named the fair-play team, Tsukada Shiori of NEC was named best setter, Kim Hyon Ju and Jong Jin Sim of North Korea were the best attackers, Bui Thi Nga of Vietnam and Aratani Shiari of NEC were the top outside hitters and Yanagita Mizuki of NEC won the award for the most valuable player.

Dinara Syzdykova of Altay Club from Kazakhstan was voted Miss VTV Cup 2019.

VNS