China ease past Dominican Republic at World GP Hefei leg

Defending champions China eased past Dominican Republic 3-0 here on Thursday for an opening victory at the Hefei leg of the 2004 World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament.

The Chinese women, who won the World Grand Prix and the World Cup in 2003, had no great difficulty delivering the Dominicans 25-11, 25-21 and 25-22 in just 66 minutes.

"Both teams played so so today," said Chinese captain Feng Kun."We were able to start strongly and made fewer mistakes."

Yang Hao had 11 kills to lead China with 14 points, Wang Li'na and Zhang Ping added 12 and 10 points respectively.

"We did a good job in offense today," said China head coach Chen Zhonghe.

Going down tamely in the first two sets, Dominican Republic fought bravely in the third set as they raced to a 9-5 lead and then went up 15-12.

China pulled it back at 17-17 before running off three straight points for a 22-19 advantage. Dominican Republic withstood two match points but China converted on the third as Zhou Suhong smashed a ball home.

Earlier on Thursday, Poland stunned reigning world champion Italy 25-22, 25-23 and 25-18.

The four-team round-robin tournament goes into the second day on Friday as Poland plays China and Italy takes on Dominican Republic.