Sarmayeh Bank of Iran were defeated against Chinese Taipei’s Taiwan Power 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-12) and came sixth in the 2017 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship on Wednesday.

Wan-Ling Tseng provided a solid performance, picking up 23 points from 18 attacks and five blocks.

“Today, we made some mistakes and could have played better, but we are happy with this result. We really wanted to get into the final four in this competition. We will work harder and come back stronger and hopefully get the best results in the next tournament,” Tseng said.

Taiwan Power’s Chen-Yu Huang and Wan-Ling Tseng commanded a strong presence in the middle to connect with their attacks and blocks in the first set. Sarmayeh Bank utilised their hitters Maedeh Borhani and Mahdien Khaje Kolaei at the wings, but lost points to errors. The Chinese Taipei side took the 16-10 advantage by the second technical time-out.

Taiwan Power likewise suffered with attack and ball-handling errors, while Sarmayeh Bank tried to pass the ball better and saved two set points. The Chinese Taipei side seized momentum and grabbed a 25-20 win in the opening set.

Mahsa Saberi provided the offensive spark that was needed by Sarmayeh Bank in the second set. She added firepower to the wing, giving much support to Borhani and Khaje Kolaei. Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Ying Lee tried to retaliate but Iran set their plays more tightly to allow them the second set win at 25-18.

Taiwan Power tried to established a faster offence in the third set. Sarmayeh Bank were able to keep up with this, showing how they could also play fast. The Chinese Taipei club took to running better plays to take a 12-7 lead. Taiwan power continued to utilise their middle attackers with much success to take the third set at 25-20.

In the fourth set, Sarmayeh Bank tried to improve their play with Mahsa continuing to score from the wing and Farnoosh Sheikhi at the middle. By this time, the Chinese Taipei club tried to use combination plays and even scored from the service line. The Iranian side was unable to post good defence, and Taiwan Power finished the final set 25-12.

(Source: Asianvolleyball)