Taipei, Chinese Taipei, September 21, 2008 -- The second day of the 14th Asian Women Junior Volleyball Championship unravelled with a totally eye-catching game between. Japan and Korea in Pool B. Japan,, with great fighting spirit, bounced back strongly from the first two sets down to overcome Korea in a five-set hard-fought duel here on Sunday. The whole gymnasium was filled with the cheers of members of both teams.

The score difference of the two teams in the first set never went beyond three points. Led by their skillful setter No.3 Si Eun Mi, the Korean girls got the upper hand and won the first set 25-22; and they continued their excellence in the second set and ended the first technical time out with an 8-3 lead. Though lagging behind during most of the set, the Japanese girls managed to catch up with their rivals and took advantage in the deuce; nevertheless, with the mighty attacker No.4 Kim Sun Young breaking the blocking wall of Japan from the left side, team Korea snatched the second set 27-25.

Though losing the first two sets, Japan surprised the opponents with their endurance as well as incredible defense, and won the next two sets consecutively 25-19 and 25-18, forcing the match into the tiebreaker. In the last set, team Japan brought their blocking into full play by No.5 Iwasaka Nana and No.12 Nagaoka Miyu, and with the flawless spiking of No.3 Kodaira Kaori, taking the crucial fifth set 15-10 and resulting in their second win in the tournament.

“All of our members know that this is an important match in the second round of the championship,” said Japanese head coach Aihara Noboru, adding “and we conquered team Korea’s morale with our spirit of never giving up.”