Liu-Xiangdong
At the 2017-2018 Super League regular season closing, Beijing beat fierce rivals Shanghai by a 3-1 (25-14, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22) to break own three-game losing streak. But, in terms of the final ranking for the playoffs, the win of the second-placed Beijing was in vain since Shanghai secured the top-seed earlier. The fact they played without foreign duo Facundo Conte – Julien Lyneel reflects in the best way how much this game was of no importance to the defending champions. The Canadian John Gordon Perrin topped Beijing with 20 points. Sun Zeyuan scored 17 points for Shanghai.
Bayi promoted themselves No.3 as they outplayed direct rivals for this spot Sichuan by a 3-2. Tang Chuanhang delivered 19 points for Bayi, while Li Yuanbo added 7 kill blocks.
The Belarusian Artur Udrys led Guangdong to a 3-1 win vs. Shandong with 30 points, but their playoff hopes were already extinguished.
Thanks to the surreal display of Liu Xiangdong (37 points, 10 aces and 6 kill blocks!), Jiangsu nailed down Zhejiang to the bottom of the standings, 3-1.
Best-of-five playoff semifinals bracket:
No.1 Shanghai vs. No.4 Sichuan
No.2 Beijing vs. No.3 Bayi
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our CHN National Championship 2017/2018 / Male / Seniors page.
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