Vietnam secured their second win at the Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship, beating New Zealand 25-11, 25-12, 25-8 in the preliminary round.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Kim Hue hits a ball in Vietnam’s 3-0 win over New Zealand at the Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship. 

The match was played at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex in the Philippines.

Tran Thi Thanh Thuy and Doan Thi Xuan rotated the ball to score for the Vietnamese side, who found almost no trouble dealing with the unfancied New Zealand.

“Tonight, our opposition is not so strong. It’s quite an easy match for everyone (on our team),” Vietnam coach Hidehiro Irisawa said on asianvolleyball.net.

Following two wins, Vietnam have qualified for the classification round. They will next meet Asian Games champions South Korea, who beat Sri Lanka in three straight sets 25-14, 24-17, 25-13.

The winner of this battle will take the top spot in Pool C.

“Korea are a very strong team and our objective is to compete and learn as much as we can,” Japan’s Irisawa said.

In other action on Thursday, former two-time Asian winners Japan thrashed China 25-14, 25-17, 26-24; Chinese Taipei crushed Maldives 25-9, 25-8, 25-10; and Thailand overpowered formidable rivals Iran 25-18 25-12 25-16.

Kazakhstan’s crucial 25-16 25-17 25-11 win over underdogs Hong Kong was their first victory at the 19th edition. It pushed them to the round of the last-eight teams. 

VNS