China power past Azerbaijan in women's volleyball Grand Prix (updated)

Olympic champions China stormed to a straight-set victory over Poland at the women's volleyball world Grand Prix Ningbo leg on Saturday.

Poland remained winless in the Grand Prix after the 25-22, 25-15, 25-14 defeat, while China improved their record to 7 wins and one loss.

Yang Hao paced China with 13 points, and Xu Yunli added 12 points. Mirek Joanna was the top scorer for Poland with 11 points.

China head coach Chen Zhonghe said powerful serving and slick attacking laid the foundation for their second victory at the last leg of the World Grand Prix.

"After a heatedly contested first set, we got into form gradually. Today we did well in serving and attacking, so we had little difficulty in holding Poland at bay," he said.

Poland, the 2003 and 2005 European Champions, started off well in the first set, leading all the way until China drew level at 10-10. China led for the first time at 14-13, but Poland won four points in a row to overtake the lead at 17-14.

After China launched a 5-2 run to equalize at 19-19, the Poles made a few faults and surrendered the set 25-22.

The Chinese girls, cheered on by about 8,000 home spectators, dominated the following two sets with powerful spikes and solid blocking to close out the match in just 64 minutes.

The Beilun leg is part of a qualifying campaign featuring 12 of the world's top teams. The top five teams from the qualifying rounds join hosts Italy in the World Grand Prix finals, which run from Sept. 6-10 in Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Source: Xinhua