OSAKA, Japan, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Defending champions China recorded their ninth straight victory to lead the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup table after defeating the Netherlands 3-1 here on Friday.
The United States went through stern test by Russia 3-2 to keep alive their hope of winning the championship, four points behind the leaders with two matches left.
China went for a 9-0 record with a 25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19 win over the Netherlands. Captain Zhu Ting had 22 points, firing 20 out of 35 spike attempts. Yuan Xinyue and Zhang Changning added 16 and 15 respectively. Lonneke Sloetjes scored game-high 24 points for the Netherlands.
"We were good at blocking today, but our attacking experienced fluctuation," China head coach Lang Ping said her team of besting the Netherlands 14-4 in kill blocks, but struggled in the third set with errors.
Kelsey Robinson and Andrea Drews combined for 50 points to lead the United States to withstand the challenge by Russia 24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 15-8. Nataliya Goncharova had 22 for the world no.5.
"We had a bit of a lull in the fourth set and came back in the fifth and I'm really proud of our team. I think we stayed diligent in our jobs when it mattered and each person contributed in their own way. We got into a really good service run in the fifth set and this created problems on their side of the net and we took advantage on our side," USA captain Jordan Larson said.
Serbia, bringing a young squad to the World Cup, squandered a two-set lead, falling to host nation Japan 21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-6 in a sold-out Maruten Intec Arena. Yuki Ishii and Yurie Nabeya tied for team-high 19 points for the Asian Championship winners, who bested their higher opponents in attack 64-63.
Mina Popovic scored 24 points for the back-to-back European champions, yet not enough to resist the late surge by Japan. Tournament leading scorer Ana Bjelica had only 12 points out of 46 spiking attempts faced with Japan's tenacious defense and the team committed 27 errors in total, which cost them the victory.
Earlier on Friday, with 11 players contributing points, South Korea eased past Kenya 25-15, 25-16, 25-21. Brazil cruised to a 25-11, 25-17, 25-18 win over Cameroon.
The 23-year-old Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez scored the game-high 26 points to lead the Dominican Republic to a 25-16, 25-23, 27-25 win over Argentina in a rematch of the semifinal at the Pan American Games, where the Dominicans claimed the eventual gold.
With two rounds to go, China now lead the table of the round-robin tournament with 26 points, followed by Team USA with 22 points. With a better set quotient, China will defend the World Cup title should they pass Serbia on Saturday.
