Volleyball Nations League: Chinese trio earn dream team consolation after loss to Turkey in final
- The Chinese round off their best showing in the tournament despite coming up short against Turkey, who took over as the world’s No 1-ranked side
- Dream team dominated by the two finalists, while the United States are upset again as Poland grab third place
China’s women’s team lost to Turkey in the Volleyball Nations League final in Texas, but their players made up almost half of the tournament’s dream team after the country’s best ever finish.
Despite their 3-1 defeat in Arlington on Sunday, captain Yuan Xinyue and two of her teammates, outsider hitter Li Yingying and setter Diao Linyu, were named in the seven-player list.
Li led the Chinese effort in the final with 21 points, with Yuan the only other member of the team with double-digit points as she contributed 11.
The pair and Diao were joined in the dream team by tournament MVP Melissa Vargas, Zehra Gunes and Gizem Orge of Turkey, and Poland’s Martyna Lukasik.
Second place represented an improvement on China’s third position in 2018 and 2019, but the country’s volleyball fans were in largely realistic mood after they had turned around some disappointing results in last month’s qualifiers to beat hosts the United States and Poland in the tournament finals.
