China trounce Russia at women's volleyball worlds

Players of China celebrate a point during the Pool F match against Russia at the 2018 Volleyball Women's World Championship in Osaka, Japan, Oct. 11, 2018. China won 3-1. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)

OSAKA, Japan, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- China trounced Russia 3-1 here to advance to the third round of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship as runners-up of Pool F.

The scores of the four sets were 25-22, 21-25, 25-23 and 25-15, respectively.

China and Russia previously had 11 encounters at the World Championships, with China losing 6 of them, including each of the last three, in 2002, 2006 and 2010 respectively.

China took the dominance for most of the time in the first set here. Russia managed to save two set points after trailing 24-20, but China, coming back from a timeout called by coach Lang Ping, settled 25-22 with a spike by Zhu Ting.

The Russians managed to pull their acts together in the second set and with Irina Voronkova and Ksenila Parubets, both of whom scored 25 points in the match, on fire, won the set 25-21.

In the third set, China built an early lead 3-0 but soon was leveled by Russia. The two sides took turns to lead and after a 22-22 tie, Yan Ni and Li Yingying put China ahead to win 25-23.

The fourth set saw more errors from the Russians and China sealed the victory with ease 25-15.

With two straight losses, Russia ranked the fourth in Pool F and failed to make it to the next round.

In three other Pool F matches here, Italy stayed unbeaten after beating the United Stated 3-1, Bulgaria defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 and Turkey edged Thailand 3-1.

Italy remained top of Pool F with nine straight wins, followed by China with eight wins and the United States with seven wins. Russia were eliminated with six wins and three losses.

In the Pool E matches held in Nagoya, the Netherlands defeated Serbia 3-2, Brazil edged hosts Japan 3-2, the Dominican Republic trounced Germany in straight sets, and Puerto Rico defeated Mexico 3-1.

The Netherland, with eight wins and one loss, led the pool, followed by Japan and Serbia each with seven wins. Brazil ranked fourth and were eliminated despite the five-set victory over Japan.

In the third round, Italy, Japan and Serbia will fight in Pool G for the tickets to the finals, while China will play the Netherlands and reigning world champions the United Sates in Pool H. The matches will kick off on Sunday.