Olympic bronze medallist China was scared by Dominican Republic on the way to its second straight win at the 2009 International Women's Volleyball Tournament Thursday.
Star spiker Wang Yimei had 14 kills and five aces to lead the Chinese women to the 25-22, 16-25, 25-16 and 25-16 victory at the four team round robin competition.
The first set was hotly contested until China went up at 21-18 on back of a 5-0 run. Dominican Republic beat off two set points to pull within 24-22, but Xue Ming claimed the opener for the host with a smash.
Dominican Republic went back with strong services in the second set, racing to an 9-5 lead and improved to 17-9, a gap the Chinese could never close.
"Our start was not satisfactory, but later on Wei Qiuyue delivered the ball very well and we found back our quick attack," said China head coach Cai Bin.
Cai replaced star middle blocker Xue Ming and side hitter Chu Jinling with Xu Yunli and Yin Na after the game resumed. The change worked out well for the Chinese women as they recovered to take the next two sets.
"We played well in the first two sets while in the third the experience of the Chinese team prevailed," said Dominican Republic head coach Kwiek Marcos. "We have many young players in our team, some between 16 and 17. I believe they will have a great future."
Earlier on Thursday, Cuba suffered its second five set loss in two days, going down to Turkey 20-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-23 and 17-15.
China will play Cuba and Turkey clashes with Dominican Republic as the tournament concludes on Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)
