China beat U.S., advance into volleyball GP finals

China sailed into the final round of volleyball's World Grand Prix finals after edging the United States 3-2 in the preliminary round on Saturday evening.

China claimed the ninth win in as many matches in the preliminaries as they beat the U.S. 22-25, 25-13, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12 in a hard-fought battle at Hong Kong Coliseum.

Chinese attacker Zhu Ting, winning 23 points in this match, was voted the most valuable player in Hong Kong stop.

China captain Hui Ruoqi said they had to overcome fatigue and work hard in order to win.

"We and the US team are very familiar with each other and it is always a hard battle whenever we meet. The game was of a high level, despite the players getting exhausted in the face of the tight schedule," Hui said.

Both China and the US qualified for the finals that starts on July 22, so did Brazil, Italy, Russia and Japan.

China will face Brazil to start the day, followed by Italy against Russia and host US versus Japan.

China coach Lang Ping said her team still needed improvement.

"We are eager to find out areas of enhancement through further competition," said the former volleyball player who was nicknamed "Iron Fist" in her playing days.

The World Grand Prix Finals, a 23-year-old event, is the premier annual international women's volleyball tournament. The tournament winner receives 200,000 U.S. dollars of the overall 2.98 million purse that includes payouts through the preliminary phase. Endi