Osaka, Japan, November 15, 2006 -- The United States cruised past Chinese Taipei 3-0 in the 9-12 playoff bracket at the Women's World Championship on Wednesday.
The Americans won 25-15, 25-20, 25-21.
Taipei looked nervous as the match started and four quick errors had the United States leading 6-3 and Taipei coach Wang Kuei Ching requiring an early timeout. The U.S. led 8-4 at the first technical timeout and maintained their advantage to the second TTO, although Taipei managed to close the gap to one point at 10-9 on the back of some well-placed spiking, notably from Chun Yi.
But the United States had too much power for Chinese Taipei and their big guns started to dominate the Taipei defense. Two-meter tall Tayyiba Haneef was a particular problem for the Taipei players to deal with.
The U.S. pulled away to 20-13 and finished off the set with a spike from Danielle Scott that set up setpoint and a tipover from Haneef to round things off at 25-15.
Early in the second set, the Americans continued to dominate. At the first TTO, they led 8-4, but three of Taipei's points came from American errors. Some good spiking by Lin Ching I and more U.S. errors saw the gap close to two points at 13-11, at which time U.S. coach Lang Ping called a timeout.
At the second TTO, the gap was still just two points and a long spike by Nancy Metcalf reduced it to one. For a while, Taipei were chasing the U.S., but they were always at least a point behind and in the end just couldn't keep up. They pulled away to a four-point lead at 22-18 and spikes by Heather Bown and Metcalf put the U.S. 2-0 up in the match.
Taipei streaked into a 4-0 lead at the start of Set 3 and with their defense playing well, they were starting to offer some resistance to the U.S. The Americans were still prone to errors and a couple more helped Taipei into an 8-6 lead at the first TTO.
Taipei's Chen Shu Li was also finding her spiking range and her team were three up at 10-7. But a four-point streak by the U.S. -- with libero Sarah Drury impressive on defense -- turned the tables and the Americans were two points ahead at the second TTO.
After pulling ahead to a five-point lead at 21-16, the Chinese Taipei women tried to pull back. They made it to 23-21 but spikes by Scott and Katherine Wilkins ended the match.
