Volleyball Team Australia will play-off for bronze against Korea at the 16th Asian Volleyball Championships in Tehran today after going down fighting in last night’s semi-final against top seeds China.
 
The Australians, who trailed two sets to love fought back valiantly to level at two sets-all before going down in a spirited final set to the determined Chinese.
 
The final scores saw China defeat Australia 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 15-11.
 
Australia struggled early in the game with controlling the service reception and killing the ball in attack.
 
And although they had a number of opportunities to win break points, they could not kill the ball when it counted and made a number of direct errors at critical moments.
 
The second set saw the Australians with a 21-19 lead near the end of the set after improving their attack and general play, but China outplayed the Aussies in the key moments and won the set narrowly 25-23.
 
Australia improved their play significantly in the third and fourth sets, blocking and defending with great determination and it paid dividends as they won both sets and sent the match into a fifth set tie breaker.
 
Unfortunately the Aussies could not maintain their level in the fifth set and did not attack well enough when it counted.
 
This defeat puts the team into today's bronze medal play-off against Korea at 4pm (10.30pm AEST) local time.

Importantly from the Tournament Australia secured a place in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament to be held next June in Japan.

Volleyball Australia