TRIUMPHANT VOLLEYROOS ON THE HOP TO LONDON

VOLLEYBALL, JUNE 10, 2012: Volleyball Team Australia Men (VTAM) are off to the London Olympics after thrashing China in the last round of the FIVB Men’s Olympic Indoor Qualification Tournament in Tokyo today.

The Jon Uriarte-coached Australians beat the Chinese 25-12, 25-20 and 25-20 in a stunning display at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium which saw jubilant scenes as the triumphant young Australians jumped for joy after realising their Olympic dream.
 
As hard as they tried the Chinese had no answers to Australia’s rampant rookies –one of the most inexperienced teams in the FIVB – but a team that has been moulded into Asia’s best team by coach Jon Uriarte over the last 50 days.

Queensland’s 212cm tall Opposite Thomas Edgar, who has been one of the finds of the tournament, scored 15 points for a determined Australian team that out-blocked China 10-1 and out-served them 5-3.
 
Leading two sets to love the Australians knew that one last set would seal their Olympic fate in a game they knew would be the biggest day of their careers.
 
Chinese coach Zhou Jianan called his players off court, but the Australians were in control and were five points ahead at the first Technical Time Out.
 
A block by Aidan Zingel on Yuan Zhi made the score 13-7 and prompted Zhou to use his second timeout, but the truth was China had no answer to the London-bound Australians.
 
Three successive China errors widened the gap to 16-8 at the second TTO and a superb spell of serving by Edgar – including three unreturnable shots – all but finished them off.
 
Match point came on a netted serve by Yu Dawei and Adam White finished things off with a crisp crosscourt smash to ensure Australia was the top Asian nation of the tournament behind leaders Serbia.
 
Australia notched wins over Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Asian champions Iran, Korea and China in a stunning finale to four years of hard work.

This will be the third time Australia has appeared in the indoor men’s volleyball tournament after making their debut in 2000 and backing up in 2004 in Athens.
 
Melbourne’s Australia captain Igor Yudin congratulated all the staff and members of the Australian team “because the job they did this week was something special.”
 
“I can’t put into words how much is done behind closed doors. Today, as I said yesterday (after Korea), was a do-or-die game again, the final show and it was up to us to perform,” Yudin said.
 
“We were the actors and it’s an amazing feeling to come here on the last day and dominate a team like that.
 
“It’s an unbelievable experience and all of us are really happy to be part of that.  For these games, you have to be a lion or a dog and we did that today.
 
“We didn’t want to go out there and have people say ‘we could have…’ or ‘we should have…’
 
“We wanted people to see dogs on court and today we did that perfectly.
 
“I can’t remember having the same focus and aggression since I joined the team. It’s great that we made this step on such a huge stage and at such a huge moment.”
 
An excited Australia coach Jon Uriarte also congratulated his team who have made an amazing effort in the last few years, “but specifically in the last 50 days.”
 
“We started to work at the end of the professional season and most of the players didn’t come back after the regular season but joined the team in Italy,” Uriarte said.
 
“We have been preparing and training and having matches in different countries – Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Holland, Italy again – and it’s been an amazing effort.
 
“And it’s not just been training and working hard; we’ve been trying to build up the personality and creating energy day by day.
 
“During the tournament, they were the protagonists of this and for this reason, I want to congratulate them.
 
“Today, we wanted to disrupt China’s offense and each rotation had specific targets to try and create problems for their offence.
 
“We still need to be more fluent and consistent in reception attack; they did a good job today but it hasn’t been like that every day.
 
“We have a lot of room to improve in defence. Our block is quite good but not efficient enough, especially if we want to make the next step and challenge the top teams in the world.”

The Australians came out all guns blazing against China in the opening set, blasting the opposition off the court, smashing the Chinese in every department to runaway 25-12 winners.
 
They had a lively start with Yudin and Adam While getting in some heavy hits, while China’s Liang Chunlong got some good mileage from short sets in the center.
 
Australia was in control from the outset and built their attack around some decisive serving and spikes, with leads of 20-9 and 24-11 before nailing the opening stanza.
 
China failed to get one block point in the first set. Set-point came on a rotation error and a spike by White put Australia one-set up.
 
The Chinese dominated the early part of the second set, determined to keep their Olympic dreams alive leading 20-19 but the hungrier Australians with captain Igor Yudin leading the way, kept their nerve, winning the next six points to take the set 25-20.
 
Two misplaced hits by White took the score to 11-7 and Australian coach Jon Uriarte called his players off court for a talk.

Edgar, Yudin and White then pulled their team level at 11, prompting Zhou to haul his team off court.
 
Bian Hongmin added a shot and China were two points up at the second TTO. But Zhang, Cui and Chen Ping blew big chances to secure China’s lead and blocks by Edgar and Zingel (twice) blew a big hole in China’s hopes of leveling the scores.
 
 Zingel’s second block made the score 24-20 and Edgar planted a shot in the China court to put Australia 2-0 up. 
 
It was a similar story in the third set with the Aussies, fresh from their decisive victory over Korea yesterday, running away with the match, claiming the deciding set and their place in the London 2012 tournament, winning 25-20.
 
The Australians, most of whom are based in Europe with their professional leagues, will return home this week before starting a training camp at the AIS next Sunday. They ar5e expected to head off to Europe via the USA and a series of warm up games before matches against Poland before the Games tournament.
 
The Australian Squad:

Aidan Zingel Age: 21 Home: NSW Club: Bluvolley Verona, Italy Position: Middle Height: 207 Weight: 102   Nathan Roberts Age: 26 Home: SA Club: CMC Ravenna, Italy Position: Outside Height: 199 Weight: 90 Travis Passier Age: 23 Home: QLD Club: M. Roma Volley, Italy Position: Middle Height: 205 Weight: 99 Igor Yudin Age: 24 Home: Vic Club: Yaroslavich, Russia Position: Outside Height: 199 Weight: 81   Harrison Peacock Age: 21 Home: SA Club: Linkoping, Volleyball Club, Sweden Position: Setter Height: 192 Weight: 90 Andrew Grant Age: 27 Home: QLD Club: AIS, Australia Position: Middle Height: 206 Weight: 93 Adam White Age: 22 Home: Qld Club: Lang Henkel Volley, Netherlands Position: Outside Height: 203 Weight: 89

Jacques Borgeaud Age: 20 Home: ACT Club: Regina University, Canada Position: Libero Height: 179 Weight: 78   Aden Tutton Age: 27 Home: SA Club: Lang Henkel Volley, Netherlands Position: Libero Height:182 Weight: 81   Grigory Sukochev Age: 24 Home: SA Club: Humene, Slovakia Position: Setter Height: 196 Weight: 86   John Dekker Age: 22 Home: QLD Club: Humene, Slovakia Position: Outside Height: 205 Weight: 83   Luke Smith Age: 21 Home: WA Club: Linkoping, Volleyball Club, Sweden Position:  Outside Height: 200 Weight: 90   Lincoln Williams Age: 18 Home: QLD Club: AIS, Australia Position: Opposite Height: 196 Weight:   Thomas Edgar Age: 22 Home: QLD Club: Caffe Aiello Corigliano, Italy Position: Opposite Height: 212 Weight: 106

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