China hold off Russia 3-1 to win FIVB World Grand Prix Ningbo leg

China held off Russia 3-1 here Sunday evening in a match between two previously unbeaten teams to claim the title at the Ningbo leg of the FIVB World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament.

Star spiker Zhu Ting had 25 kills, three blocks and one ace to lead the Chinese women to the 25-21, 21-25, 25-13 and 25-23 victory. Yuan Xinyue contributed 17 points to China' s third win in a row with Yang Fangxu and Zhang Changning adding nine and eight respectively.

After the two sides split the first two sets, China head coach Jenny Lang Ping replaced three starters Hui Ruoqi, Yang Junjing and Zeng Chunlei with towering Zhang Changning, Yan Ni and Yang Fangxu and the change worked well for her side.

"We had problem with our attack in the second set and I decided to use taller players," said Jenny. "We were lucky because the change helped improve our blocking and defense and we played better in the next two sets."

"It was a tough match for us and we know they were missing two or three key players. So I think we will face a lot of challenge when we meet them again in the World Cup," she added.

Falling behind 9-3 and 13-5 in the fourth set, the Russian women steadily pulled it back at 21-all before overtaking the lead at 23-22 through an ace of Ekaterina Orlova. However, China ran off three points thereafter and Yuan and Hui teamed up for a solid block against Nataliya Goncharova for the match winner.

Goncharova led Russia with 26 points.

Russia finished runners-up with two wins against one loss. Germany swept Dominican Republic 3-0 earlier on Sunday for the third place. Endi