China

China beats Cuba to finish 2nd at women's volleyball tournament

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-01 13:19

LUOHE, Henan - China beat Cuba in straight sets here Monday evening to finish runner-up at the 2010 China International Women' s Volleyball Tournament.

China beats Cuba to finish 2nd at women's volleyball tournament

With the 25-21, 25-20 and 27-25 victory, China improved to two wins against one loss in the four-team round-robin tournament.

Turkey and Dominican Republic also shared a 2-1 win-loss record with China, while the Turkish women claimed the title with better points ratio. Dominican Republic (2-1) was third ahead of the winless Cuban team.

"It's the best match we played in this tournament," said head coach Wang Baoquan, who took the helm of the Chinese team two months ago. "Our receiving was more reliable than the last two matches and the combination between our young setter and middle hitters was also better."

"It' s my first tournament as the Chinese head coach. I also learned a lot from the games," Wang added. "I think our biggest problem is receiving and we will try our best to improve on that in the future."

Hui Ruoqi, top scorer of China in this tournament, had 15 kills in 33 tries and added three stuffs and two aces for game-high 20 points.

"As a young player, Hui played very well in this tournament," Wang said. "Her performance is beyond my expectation."

Coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss to Dominican Republic on Sunday, China started strongly against Cuba, jumping to an 8-2 lead in the opening set. After Cuba steadily pulled within 22-20, Hui Ruoqi flied high from the back row to smash a ball home to make it 23-20 and China went on to clinch the first set at 25-21.

In the second set, the Chinese women erased an 11-7 deficit to level it at 12-all. The two sides traded leads before China pulled away with a 5-1 run for an unshakable 24-19 lead.

The Cuban team fought back hard to force ties at 22, 24 and 25 in the third set, only to find Hui Ruoqi twice converted on counter attack opportunities to seal the victory for the host.

Opon Kenia Carcaces scored 15 points for Cuba, who gave away 30 points through errors.

Earlier on Monday, Turkey hammered Dominican Republic 25-12, 25-18 and 25-20.

The four teams will play another round-robin tournament in Hangzhou from June 3 to 5.